Watching period dramas today, it is hard not to notice how some actors’ faces look like they belong more on an Instagram story than in the historical eras they are supposed to represent. Take a look at Florence Pugh in Little Women, where she plays Amy March, Austin Butler in Elvis, depicting the legendary musician Elvis Presley, or even Timothée Chalamet in The King, acting as King Henry V. With their striking, polished, and perfect faces, these celebrities stand out in period films because they appear “too modern”. Welcome to the age of the iPhone Face. This term has been coined to describe the uncannily perfect modern look, popularized by social media, in which a person appears to know what modern technology is. Although it is often seen as a product of modern technology, this trend is simply the latest version of centuries-old beauty ideals of “perfection”, which have survived through different eras and generations. Today’s iPhone Face phenomenon is not solely a result of social media, but rather the consequence of several centuries of perpetuated beauty standards, amplified by modern technology and global uniformity of attractiveness. 

Historically, societal beauty standards have existed since ancient civilizations. As humans evolved, so did the desire for human perfection, reflecting the values and ideals of different cultures during different periods. For example, the ancient Egyptians had certain physical preferences that would clash with today’s beauty standards. The BCC News article “How Ancient Egypt Shaped Our Idea of Beauty”  explains how people considered “smooth, serene faces” and “prominent black eyes” as the norm of the time. In fact, during this period, Cleopatra was a popular figure widely believed to be the epitome of beauty, having the desired traits that influenced how the world viewed Egyptian women. Fast forward to the Victorian era: physical aesthetics were controlled by strict rules, depicting the rigid social norms of the society of that time. An article from the Molly Brown House Museum discusses the dangerous and extreme measures women would go to achieve an appearance “evoking purity, innocence” through skin care routines containing a “mix between ammonia, mercury, and opium” – highly harmful substances. Another significant example would be when the 20th-century era was introduced to media, which transformed the period’s perception of beauty through the lens of celebrities and socialites. The Godefroy Beauty website writes that Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor are credited for instituting the concepts of “hourglass figures and bombshell looks” as well as the idea of the “it girl”. This historical evidence serves as a reminder that beauty standards are constantly evolving as humans continue to change. However, the one thing that is consistent throughout history is that we have always put a great emphasis on the goal of physical perfection. Today, the circumstance of the iPhone Face simply reflects this continuity, maintaining the same societal desire for a perfect appearance that adheres to modern norms. The fact that our generation appears with such striking contemporary looks is not just something that happened on its own. Instead, it is a result built on mankind’s long-standing pursuit of an idolized image, through which people began changing their faces to great lengths that they no longer look like they did before.

Among these traditional beauty standards, many have resurfaced or influenced our current era in one way or another, thanks to what modern technology has to offer. Today’s innovations have heightened the desire for a specific look by building onto the existing aesthetic appeals in ways that were once considered to be unthinkable. The rise of platforms like Instagram and TikTok has unintentionally given people the power to curate their images based on their likes and dislikes, leading to consequences. The introduction of filters and editing apps has influenced society to expect flawless, symmetrical, and unrealistic faces. The article “The tech-driven evolution of beauty standards” by The Oxford Scientist discusses how detrimental face editing has been normalized and even accepted by today’s society, attributing it to “celebrity culture and airbrushed advertisement images”. These technological advances have allowed us to push our limits to something bigger– cosmetic surgery. The article further explains how human advancement has led to the desire for cosmetic procedures as “remedies to “fix” or “solve’” things that, frankly, never needed fixing in the first place. These include “fox eye surgery” or Botox to change unavoidable things such as aging, wrinkles, face structure, and more. The ideal face has always been sought out in human history, but what sets our era apart is access to better technology, allowing people to alter their appearances in ways that were once deemed unattainable before. If historical societies had the same privilege as we did, they likely would have ended up in a similar modern predicament. In this way, technology acts as a magnifier, building on centuries-old beauty trends and projecting them onto today’s society in newer ways. The iPhone Face phenomenon is not a new creation unique to our time but merely an outcome of mixing beauty ideals with technology. 

Lastly, the increase in globalization has found its way into transforming the beauty standards we once knew into something increasingly uniform. As the world becomes more connected through the Internet and social media, so do the perceptions of beauty, once specific to certain regions or societies, now globalized. As a result, a universal idea of attractiveness takes into place, ignoring any cultural, economic, or geographical boundaries. In other words, the homogenization of beauty standards has played a significant role in creating the “ideal” look on the Internet. Hence, there is all the rage for the iPhone Face. According to a social media culture shock article from The Daily Free Press, social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram all create a singular universal visual model–  to be “conventionally pretty”. Coincidentally, the majority of the people who fit into this category fall under preferred Western beauty ideals. As a result, users of these apps “naturally gravitate towards people” who match this standard. This introduces the problem of Western media dominating a global platform and establishing a homogenized standard of attractiveness. The popularity of the apps has resulted in the widespread promotion of Eurocentric features that overshadow other cultural beauty traditions. As a result, the rise of a distinctly modern face, representing the preferred Western aesthetic, ignores facial diversity and uniqueness among people; hence, the term “iPhone Face” is used to describe a uniform beauty ideal in our society.  

While many factors undoubtedly influence the modern aesthetics we know today, some still argue that the development of the iPhone Face is mainly a product of digital media rather than a continuation of past trends. Indeed, social media platforms have introduced a ground-breaking level of visual manipulation and social pressure to follow unrealistic beauty expectations that previously did not exist. However, this argument fails to account for the fact that beauty standards have always existed within history. These ideals did not just appear out of nowhere. They were simply extended by technology and globalization, leading to a standardized facial model that dominates the apps we know today. In other words, a “smartphone face” is less of an invention and more of an evolution, grounded in various influences that have been reshaped for our modern age. 

Essentially, the most sought-after face of modern media is not completely attributed to social networks. Rather, it is the result of long-standing beauty ideals that were strengthened by technological advancements and the global spread of cultural norms. As long as humans continue having a groundless longing to achieve some sort of “perfection”, the history book will keep repeating itself, evolving with each new era. The longer we ache to be perfect, the longer the cycle continues, forever distorting how we perceive true beauty.