Media type: E-Article Title: No longer just a pretty face: Fashion magazines' depictions of ideal female beauty from 1959 to 1999 Contributor: Sypeck, Mia Foley; Gray, James J.; Ahrens, Anthony H. imprint: Wiley, 2004 Published in: International Journal of Eating Disorders Language: English DOI: 10.1002/eat.20039 ISSN: 0276-3478; 1098-108X Origination: Footnote: Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>The print media's depiction of the ideal of feminine beauty as presented to American women was examined for the years 1959–1999.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>Trends were investigated through an analysis of cover models appearing on the four most popular American fashion magazines.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Body size for fashion models decreased significantly during the 1980s and 1990s. There was also a dramatic increase in the frequency with which the media depicted the entire bodies of the models from the 1960s to the 1990s.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion</jats:title><jats:p>Both the increasingly thin images and the striking increase in full‐body portrayals suggest an increase in the value placed by American society on a thin ideal for women, a change that is concurrent with the increase in disturbed eating patterns among American women. © 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 36: 342–347, 2004.</jats:p></jats:sec>