Serendipity
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 24, 2009
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Beauty is not so much in the eye of the beholder as in the measurements between a womans eyes, mouth and ears, scientists claim.
Researchers have calculated the ratios of the perfect face and claim that celebrities including Jessica Alba, Liz Hurley and Shania Twain have the magic formula.
While being labelled average is rarely regarded as a compliment, they also found that the golden ratio matched dimensions of an average womans face.
But for those not blessed with textbook looks, there is still hope experts who conducted the research said women can bend the rules through a haircut.
They can also take encouragement from the fact that Angelina Jolie, the actress, does not fit their beauty criteria.
Professor Kang Lee, from the University of Toronto and one of the lead authors of the study, said: We already know that different facial features make a female face attractive large eyes, for example, or full lips.
Our study proves that the structure of faces also contributes top our perception of facial attractiveness. In four experiments, US and Canadian researchers asked students to compare colour photographs of womens faces.
In one photograph, the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth, and the horizontal distance between the eyes of each woman had been doctored.
In the other, the eyes, mouth, nose, contour and hairline remained unchanged.
The participants were then asked to select the face they found more attractive. In all four experiments, they chose the faces with specific proportions that researchers have dubbed the "golden ratio.
Women's faces were found to be at their most attractive when the space between their pupils was just under half, or 46 per cent, of the width of her face from ear to ear.
The other perfect dimension was when the distance between her eyes and mouth was just over a third, or 36 per cent, of the overall length of her face from hairline to chin.
Experts said the 36/46 per cent ratios "correspond with those of an average face.
But Prof Lee said changing a persons hairstyle was one way in which the ratios could be manipulated.
"Our study ... explains why sometimes an attractive person looks unattractive or vice versa after a haircut, because hairdos change the ratios," Prof Lee said.
"Angelina Jolie does not have golden length and width ratios. Elizabeth Hurley gets the golden ratio for length but is different from the width golden ratio by one per cent."
Canadian country pop musician Shania Twain has "both the length and width ratios, the research published in Vision Research said.
© Telegraph.co.uk
Researchers have calculated the ratios of the perfect face and claim that celebrities including Jessica Alba, Liz Hurley and Shania Twain have the magic formula.
While being labelled average is rarely regarded as a compliment, they also found that the golden ratio matched dimensions of an average womans face.
But for those not blessed with textbook looks, there is still hope experts who conducted the research said women can bend the rules through a haircut.
They can also take encouragement from the fact that Angelina Jolie, the actress, does not fit their beauty criteria.
Professor Kang Lee, from the University of Toronto and one of the lead authors of the study, said: We already know that different facial features make a female face attractive large eyes, for example, or full lips.
Our study proves that the structure of faces also contributes top our perception of facial attractiveness. In four experiments, US and Canadian researchers asked students to compare colour photographs of womens faces.
In one photograph, the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth, and the horizontal distance between the eyes of each woman had been doctored.
In the other, the eyes, mouth, nose, contour and hairline remained unchanged.
The participants were then asked to select the face they found more attractive. In all four experiments, they chose the faces with specific proportions that researchers have dubbed the "golden ratio.
Women's faces were found to be at their most attractive when the space between their pupils was just under half, or 46 per cent, of the width of her face from ear to ear.
The other perfect dimension was when the distance between her eyes and mouth was just over a third, or 36 per cent, of the overall length of her face from hairline to chin.
Experts said the 36/46 per cent ratios "correspond with those of an average face.
But Prof Lee said changing a persons hairstyle was one way in which the ratios could be manipulated.
"Our study ... explains why sometimes an attractive person looks unattractive or vice versa after a haircut, because hairdos change the ratios," Prof Lee said.
"Angelina Jolie does not have golden length and width ratios. Elizabeth Hurley gets the golden ratio for length but is different from the width golden ratio by one per cent."
Canadian country pop musician Shania Twain has "both the length and width ratios, the research published in Vision Research said.
© Telegraph.co.uk
