The painting, for example, is full of the antitheses of an age. The color grey in 19th century fashion had a double meaning -- it was quite often in vogue, and could mean elegance and taste. On the other hand, sometimes it came to mean plainness and insignificance. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre plays with this double meaning of grey: Jane, who often wears grey, is plain, but she can be quite attractive when she chooses to.
As for lipstick, or lip-paint as it was then, it was not wholly desirable. The 19th century frowned upon make up, saying that it had to be discreet and preferably home made. At the same time, best-selling cosmetics had started to appear since the 18th century.
Novel reading, finally, was opposed by the moralists. They believed that romance reading was bad for women, because it excited their fancy and made them dissatisfied with the reality of life. I see nothing wrong with having a romantic attitude, but more about this in a later post!
Even today, when it comes to beauty, we often wonder how much: how much make up, how much weight, how much care for fashion. I say as much as we like! Make up is self-expression and can greatly boost confidence, but only if we want it to. Weight ought to be healthy, fat/big/corpulent versus slim are false categories. And there is nothing wrong with a love for fashion!
Enjoy a great day, and have beauty always with you! :-)
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