When Greta Garbo arrived in Hollywood, she was not considered a beautiful actress. Yet captivated by her portrayals on the screen, her legions of fans bent the conception of beauty towards Garbo.

In 1925 the standard conception of female beauty, either in real life or on screen, was exemplified by the stars Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, and Gloria Swanson. At 5’ 7”, Garbo was one of the tallest female actors in Hollywood. Most of her contemporaries were no taller than 5’ 4”. She had an athletic  build, and her face was not pixyish enough. Her looks were not suited for the typical roles played by actresses.

Given how beauty came to be defined by Garbo, it is interesting to note how the initial impression was that she was successful despite not being beautiful. In the Minneapolis Star Tribune review of Torrent, the reviewer commented:

“This lady is by no means handsome, judging by the accepted standards of American screen beauty. She can act, however, and act well.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune February 21, 1926 p 6)

Writer Jim Tully described her thus:

“She is broad shouldered, flat-breasted, awkward in her movements. Her form is the despair of the wardrobe mistress.” (Tully, Jim Greta Garbo in Vanity Fair June 1928)

In her first film reviews, she was considered attractive without being beautiful. Swiftly, Garbo totally upended the American perception of beauty. It came to be defined by her face.

The fact that female beauty standards changed was not in itself remarkable. They had been evolving from the Gibson Girl to the Flapper to Garbo. The new standard did not just measure physical attributes. Garbo helped broaden the definition of beauty through the qualities she displayed that captured an attitude of women regarding their place in the world.

In 1932 Vanity Fair ran a short article under the headline Then Came Garbo showing photographically how seven stars had altered their looks to be more Garboesque. In five short years, Garbo had come to define feminine beauty.

Garbo’s fashion choices had so much power that when she returned to America in October 1938 with straight hair, women began to copy the un-permed style. A Hairdressers Association passed a resolution criticizing her decision to not perm her hair because, it “would have the effect of working vast injury to the hair stylists and hairdressers of the United States.”