Vasilina, D. (2025) Aesthetics of the Body or “Beauty Salon” in Time: Historical and Semantic Analysis – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Darya S. VASILINA
Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M. Akmulla
3a, Oktyabrskaya revolutsii str., Ufa, 450001 Russian Federation
Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies and Socio-Economic Disciplines
PhD (in Pedagogical Sciences)
e-mail: vasis365@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-1743-5209

Vasilina, D. (2025) Aesthetics of the Body or “Beauty Salon” in Time: Historical and Semantic Analysis

Abstract: The aesthetics of the human body, its adornment and transformation have always been of interest to representatives of the natural sciences and humanities, as well as a source of research from the standpoint of philosophy, cultural studies, history, anthropology, ethnography, psychology, art history, and sociology. Today, there is a multiplicity and diversity in approaches to their consideration not only at the level of everyday, mass, but also at the level of concrete scientific knowledge. A lot depends on the attitude to bodily practices, to the body itself in each cultural epoch. Despite the fact that a person's appearance is determined by hereditary information passed down from their ancestors during their lifetime, they undergo various changes on their own or due to circumstances. So, people put fashionable “decorations” on their bodies (tattoos, scars, piercings), which are becoming more and more popular every year. And this is not only a modern trend: in the past, people were willing to do anything for the aesthetics of the body. Therefore, peculiar “beauty salons” have existed and functioned throughout the history of human development. Their evolution can be traced from primitive archetypes to modern innovative ones. Since ancient times, scars, tattoos, and piercings have been part of culture, serving as an informational message: they served as a sign of showing a representative of a clan or tribe (they allowed them to distinguish “their own” from “someone else's” or “other”); they were a warning mark (for example, they singled out people who committed crimes); they served as a sign of reward, showed exploits, and the bearer's victories; demonstrated a person's belonging to something or someone (to professional activities, to military affairs, and also served as the owner's mark for slaves); protected places on the body with drawings from evil spirits (at the same time, the whole body from the influence of hostile forces, magic); were an attribute body beauty. The article attempts to trace the evolution of body aesthetics by considering several aesthetic procedures (tattooing, piercing, scarring) and conducting historical and semantic analysis. It is in these “body decorations” that deep historical and semantic foundations are laid, which have survived to the present day: historical, cultural, religious, social and individualized.

Key words: aesthetics, body beauty, tattooing, scarification, scarification, piercing, beauty salon, branding, semantics, beauty evolution, beauty industry.

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For Citation:

Vasilina, D. (2025) Aesthetics of the Body or “Beauty Salon” in Time: Historical and Semantic Analysis. International Journal of Cultural Research, 2 (59). 20–31. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2025_2_20

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2025_2_20