Beauty is often described as a mental or physical trait that makes these things aesthetically pleasing to see. Such things as beautiful sunsets, landscapes, humans, and artistic works are all considered to be beauty. Beauty, along with art and fashion, is the most important topic of aesthetics, among the major branches of psychology. Aesthetics also involves how an object makes you feel, as well as how it affects your brain neurologically.
The study of beauty is a long one. Aristotle argued that beauty was the product of the mind, while Descartes saw beauty as a function of natural beauty. John Locke held that beauty consisted in the beauty of bodies, while aesthetic value consisted in the happiness an object evokes in the soul. Renowned British poet Coleridge wrote that “there is nothing beautifying, nothing lovely, nothing elegant like to the picture of a woman in her dress.” Oscar Wilde wrote that beauty is “a vague, sick fancy, which tries to put everything into a miniature or an ordinary shape”.
Today there is a major industry that focuses on discovering and creating new beauty. Beauty advisers counsel people about what beauty standards they should aspire to, and offer them advice about what makes certain things beautiful, and why. Beauty consultants work in the field of marketing, trying to make art, architecture, literature and film more appealing to the public. Because most people define beauty by what they see in the world around them, this form of cultural analysis has become extremely popular. People from all walks of life use beauty culture to determine what is and isn’t beauty.