Pretty, Quiet, and Easy to Please.
- Jenna Nolan
- Mar 1
- 4 min read
I think college is the first time a lot of us really start catching ourselves mid thought and asking where certain ideas even came from. Like why we feel weird leaving the house without makeup some days, or why we still feel pressure to look put together even when we are just going to class. Between being online constantly, comparing ourselves to everyone on Instagram and TikTok, and trying to figure out who we are on our own, it gets overwhelming fast.
I notice it the most when I am scrolling. One second it is outfit inspiration or a get ready with me video, and the next it is an ad quietly telling you what confident or pretty or successful is supposed to look like. When I came across these two vintage ads from the nineteen fifties, I felt uncomfortable in a way that was familiar. Not shocking. Familiar. Like the messages had changed outfits but never fully left.
The first ad that really bothered me was a Cutex nail polish ad from their Purring Colors campaign. The headline reads, “You’ll be the woman he wants you to be.” That sentence alone says everything.
The image shows a woman holding a cat, looking soft, quiet, and delicate. The copy talks about being most feminine, more feline, and wearing colors that act like an invitation. Nothing about how she feels. Nothing about what she wants. The nail polish is not being sold as something fun or expressive. It is being sold as a way to shape yourself into something more appealing for a man. As a college girl who hears constant messages about confidence and independence, this feels gross. It suggests that femininity should be small, quiet, and pleasing. Even the idea of not demanding attention stands out. Like women were expected to exist without taking up space. I read an article from The Atlantic that talked about how beauty advertising in the mid century was less about products and more about teaching women how to behave, and that really stuck with me.
The second ad hits the same message from the other side. It is a Van Heusen tie ad from nineteen fifty one with the headline, “Show her it’s a man’s world.” This one does not even pretend to soften the message. The image shows a man sitting up confidently while a woman kneels beside him, smiling up at him. The tie is not just a tie. It is a symbol of authority. Masculinity is framed as power and control, while femininity is framed as submission. What made my stomach turn is how normal it all looks. The woman looks happy. The man looks relaxed. Inequality is presented as attractive and natural.
When you look at these two ads together, they feel connected. The Cutex ad tells women who they should become. The Van Heusen ad tells men who they already are. Neither one asks women what they want. Neither one leaves room for individuality. That is exactly why this kind of advertising would never survive today. It is not subtle. It is not implied. It tells people their place very clearly.
Scrolling through social media now, I still see pressure, but it looks different. And honestly, it makes me think a lot about my little sister. She is growing up in a world where the ads she sees are at least trying to show different body types, different identities, and different versions of confidence. She is still online, she is still comparing herself, but she is also seeing women take up space without apologizing for it. When I think about the messages she is absorbing compared to the ones women saw in the nineteen fifties, I feel grateful. I wish I had grown up seeing more of that.
That is why modern campaigns like Dove’s Real Beauty ones feel important to me. Seeing women of different ages, sizes, and backgrounds just existing without trying to be quiet or pleasing feels refreshing. The message is not about changing yourself or shrinking yourself. It is about being okay as you are. As college women who are constantly navigating confidence, comparison, and independence, that message feels needed.
When you put the old ads next to the modern ones, the difference is obvious. The Cutex and Van Heusen ads reinforce strict roles where women adapt and men lead. Beauty and power follow rules. Modern campaigns push back against that by showing that identity is personal and confidence does not need permission. Looking back at ads like these makes me realize that these ideas were taught. They did not just appear. They were repeated through images and language until they felt normal. Even though times have changed, some of those expectations still show up in quieter ways. I am just glad that the next generation of girls, including my sister, gets to grow up seeing a wider and more honest version of what it means to be a woman.
I am going to keep breaking down moments like this on my blog and podcast, where fashion goes deeper than clothes and into identity, power, and culture. If this made you rethink a beauty or fashion ad you have seen recently, you are not alone. And honestly, that is the point.
Van Heusen link- https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/offensive-sexist-vintage-ads/
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