May 16, 2023·edited May 16, 2023Liked by Conor Fitzgerald
there are two Hollywood actors who I consider the peak of male beauty - Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. Grant was very much the semi-aristocratic Anglo-American, refined masculine elegance, and he personified how it is an elegance and panache available to everyone, because he was a poor stowaway from Bristol who made it in Hollywood, a self made man. Well cut suits, jackets, shirts, cardigans, with refinement, a gentleman who sips cocktails of an evening. Steve McQueen represented a certain alpha male elegance and style that didn't really exist before, and hasn't been seen personified as classically since. Very handsome, he helped develop the casual elegant look, slightly preppy, very California, that combined smartness and style without becoming too casual. Mens style has two Houses, the British Savile Row house and the Italian house. Hollywood actors took those houses and Americanised them somewhat, less formalised, quite alive to the outdoors. McQueen was central to that. And he could wear a suit too, as can be seen in The Thomas Crown Affair. He had it all. Somewhere around the 1990s, things fell apart for men and style and elegance, sloppiness and sports wear became the defining characteristic. Its as though Hollywood gave up.
I think there's a lot to this. A lot of modern actors and actresses almost seem to have become parodies of supposedly conventional beauty standards. Someone pointed this out recently about baywatch(I know, I know..)comparing the old Hasslehoff physique to Zach Efron's ludicrously chiseled body. I don't know if hasslehof is objectively more handsome than Efron, but Efron was almost certainly less aesthetically appealing than he would have been if transplanted back 30-40 years to play the role
I think there are several things here. Firstly Hollywood is more conservative -They are picking either nepo babies or people who have come through a conveyer belt - Say Selena Gomez
Someone doesn't seem to burst on the scene any more like Cameron Diaz did in the Mask
I notice in watching Magnum P.I or the A-Team. You will see actresses of astonishing beauty who never seem to make it big later on. A lot of whom I have looked on IDMB and find out they were working in the industry but never made it big. Nowadays I suppose they would be on Instagram or Only Fans, rather then going to another audition for X Files
As for male actors. Looking at 80s TV Magnum P.I is good for a comparison. Higgins looks a hard 50. T.C is carrying extra weight. George Peppard I don't think ever appears shirtless on the A-Team - He is the same age then as Vin Diesel is now. Adam Driver is the only current actor who looks flawed.
Nancy Wheeler from stranger things has the 80s look
I've thought about this a fair bit, certainly more than I should have anyway. I reckon the counter argument is the "80s footballers ageing badly" twitter account, where everyone looks about 20 years older than their stated age.
On the other hand the fame of young Chalemet seems to support your argument: my suspicion is that his waif-adjacent build is part of his appeal in a "what's rare is wonderful" way
the other thing, which may be obvious, is back in the day, women were allowed to have fulsome figures. Marilyn Monroe had something of a tummy. Maybe that has changed recently with the ideal of Kim Kardashian, but the desire for skinny women in movies persists. Marilyn would be mocked mercilessly by some as an actress today
there are two Hollywood actors who I consider the peak of male beauty - Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. Grant was very much the semi-aristocratic Anglo-American, refined masculine elegance, and he personified how it is an elegance and panache available to everyone, because he was a poor stowaway from Bristol who made it in Hollywood, a self made man. Well cut suits, jackets, shirts, cardigans, with refinement, a gentleman who sips cocktails of an evening. Steve McQueen represented a certain alpha male elegance and style that didn't really exist before, and hasn't been seen personified as classically since. Very handsome, he helped develop the casual elegant look, slightly preppy, very California, that combined smartness and style without becoming too casual. Mens style has two Houses, the British Savile Row house and the Italian house. Hollywood actors took those houses and Americanised them somewhat, less formalised, quite alive to the outdoors. McQueen was central to that. And he could wear a suit too, as can be seen in The Thomas Crown Affair. He had it all. Somewhere around the 1990s, things fell apart for men and style and elegance, sloppiness and sports wear became the defining characteristic. Its as though Hollywood gave up.
I think there's a lot to this. A lot of modern actors and actresses almost seem to have become parodies of supposedly conventional beauty standards. Someone pointed this out recently about baywatch(I know, I know..)comparing the old Hasslehoff physique to Zach Efron's ludicrously chiseled body. I don't know if hasslehof is objectively more handsome than Efron, but Efron was almost certainly less aesthetically appealing than he would have been if transplanted back 30-40 years to play the role
I think there are several things here. Firstly Hollywood is more conservative -They are picking either nepo babies or people who have come through a conveyer belt - Say Selena Gomez
Someone doesn't seem to burst on the scene any more like Cameron Diaz did in the Mask
I notice in watching Magnum P.I or the A-Team. You will see actresses of astonishing beauty who never seem to make it big later on. A lot of whom I have looked on IDMB and find out they were working in the industry but never made it big. Nowadays I suppose they would be on Instagram or Only Fans, rather then going to another audition for X Files
As for male actors. Looking at 80s TV Magnum P.I is good for a comparison. Higgins looks a hard 50. T.C is carrying extra weight. George Peppard I don't think ever appears shirtless on the A-Team - He is the same age then as Vin Diesel is now. Adam Driver is the only current actor who looks flawed.
Nancy Wheeler from stranger things has the 80s look
I've thought about this a fair bit, certainly more than I should have anyway. I reckon the counter argument is the "80s footballers ageing badly" twitter account, where everyone looks about 20 years older than their stated age.
On the other hand the fame of young Chalemet seems to support your argument: my suspicion is that his waif-adjacent build is part of his appeal in a "what's rare is wonderful" way
the other thing, which may be obvious, is back in the day, women were allowed to have fulsome figures. Marilyn Monroe had something of a tummy. Maybe that has changed recently with the ideal of Kim Kardashian, but the desire for skinny women in movies persists. Marilyn would be mocked mercilessly by some as an actress today