The idea of what makes a woman feel sexy in society has changed drastically over past centuries. Each era represented shows women who have very distinct artistic fashion trends that express the personality of their time. From the Medieval/Renaissance period til today you will see changes in body type, clothing, and through their own personal expression in what was expected of women in that time. What made a woman attracive then was not just skin deep. There were specific attributes a woman's personality had that made them a woman people wanted to know, and that was always portrayed through their paintings, photos, art that they wore, or the influence they had on their time.

 Ideals of what women should look like to be considered attractive during this era were expressed through the work of the many renaissance artists of the time. According to an online artice I read called "What form of Womens body shape was perfered", many artists had restrictions on their creativity which resulted in skewed artwork and misinturpretations. But, in paintings where you see larger women with voluptuous curves, blonde hair, with a big forhead, it is said that those paintings are the actual correct inturperatation of how the people looked during that time. Women were seen as sexy for being what we know now as "overweight" and also wealthy, because being big showed you had enough money to eat well. Also in the article, the reason why it is believed these paintings were not church related is because gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. During this time many different works of art such as the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, elaborate on the severness of the sin. Yet people still indulged in what they wanted to in order to achieve their desireable figures. Paintings of iconic charactors such as Venus, Eve, and Mars were all painted ressembling people of the time by artisits Paul Rubens and Botticelli. 

"A Look at the History of Women's Beauty" http://aplus.com/a/history-female-beauty-standards

"What Form of Womens Body Shape was Perfered in Medieval Europe" http://www.femininebeauty.info/medieval-body-size-preferences

During the era women who were seen as "sexy" had strict guidlines that which they followed. The women during this era were stil a bit thick, but had thinner waists due to the intense lace up corsets they wore. They had no body hair and strived to always acheieve a look that represented a clean, pure, youthful spirit with pale skin and light hair. They wore the large corset with a volumous skirt to over excentuate their waists. Their hair was mostly curled and they worse long hair pieces. Not only did they have to exude all the beauty aspects on the outside, but they had to also achieve the desirable chrismatic, smart, witty, and cultured women that began to become famous. One example being Lillie Langtry. She was a successful actress and was loved by the audience. She was the epitome of beauty, represents what the women of that time dreamt of becoming or what the men wanted to find for themselves. While looking at the picture of Lillie Langrty, note her tiny waist and large skirt to create the desired effect of the time.  

"Victorian Feminine Ideal: about the perfect silohette, hygiene, grooming and body sculpting"  http://www.katetattersall.com/victorian-feminine-ideal-the-perfect-silhouette-hygiene-grooming-body-sculpting/

This era is in no way like any of the others. During what was known as the roaring twenties, women changed so much that the nickname for the time regarding women was "The birth of a new women." These women were not curvy, nor did they wear clothing to make them look so. There was no more suttle powders and light long hair, the new woman of the decade was flat as a board, had short hair, dark makeup, and wore shorter skirts and dresses. Smoking became incredibly popular due to its appitite surpressing ability. Flappers were free spirited women, and strayed away from the old corset wearing steryotype, different was hot. No more stuck up women sipping tea, flappers were drinking, smoking, dancing and werent afraid to falunt their sexualty. Art was blossoming but in a different slightly more tragic way such as in F. Scott Fitzgeralds classic novel, The Great Gatsby. This book expresses the mood of the time through sharing the struggles of poorly dealing with money, poverty, and a sad love story. His portrayal of the woman Daisy Buchanan is the poster girl for the roaring twenties. Everything about her from her looks to her free and childish personality, express what it meant to be and feel sexy during this time period. 

"Its amazing how the perfect body has changed over 100 years" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/05/perfect-body-change-beauty-ideals_n_4733378.html

After everyone was over the "board bodied" woman and her short bob, The Golden Age of Hollywood began in full swing. Woman on Tv started to become curvier and the idea of curly hair was back in. A lot of make up was still applied like in the 20s, but this time it was more stunning and done in a much more elegant fashion. Woman like Marilyn Monroe became iconic sex symbols and her hourglass figure had women trying to be her and had guys drooling in awe. The woman that was seen as ideal, was a curvy, large brested woman, with wide hips, and perfect hair and make up. The mentality of women during this time was that they were to do everything for their husband. Books were published laying down strict rules on how to be a good wife and how to keep your husband happy. Even though that mentality was held by the majority of women, it was the strong promiscuous stunning women like Marilyn Monroe who became famous and became icons for glamor and sex. 

"Its amazing how much the 'Perfect Body' has changed over a 100 years" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/05/perfect-body-change-beauty-ideals_n_4733378.html

"Idealist Style" http://www.idealiststyle.com/blog/beauty-ideal-over-the-decades-part-6-the-70s

With the 70s, came a whole lot of new trends. Women wanted to be thin, toned, and tan with long flowing hair. People like Farrah Fawcett and Brooke Shields became poster girls for what every woman wants to be. Their faces hung on the walls of guys bedrooms all over the world and they became ideal women for their time. The attitude of total submission to ones spouse was out, and the self sufficent woman was in. Women were stronger and wanted equality. They began doing what they wanted and dressing for themselves and soon enough that confident feminist woman was the new sex icon.

Today, the ideal woman is a combination of bits and pieces of different eras. Our perfect woman today has large breasts, a flat stomache, and a big booty. Music videos where we see women "twerking" and belly dnancing are taking over the internet and driving everyone crazy. From the nineties when we first saw shakira belly dancing in her videos to now where we see JLo and Nicki Manaj showing off there figures while singing and dancing we can clearly start to see a common thread. Things like waist trainers, that act like corsets, glamorous make up, hair die, and push up bras that act like padding that was used in dresses during the victorian age, all show us the relation between our era and the others.