Why is it that people are often more beautiful in the city? (blonde, hairdresser)

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by jasper1372

We've traveled quite a bit, and it seems (and this is a big generalization) that were the climate is more mild year round....you see better groomed and healthier fit people.....in general.

Let's face it, if you live in a more severe climate, you're bound to be more in tune with function, utility, and more in survival mode than those who can walk outside in flip flops and shorts much of the year and light spring/fall jackets for the balance of the year. As far as obesity is concerned....if you live where more "skin" is shown much of the year, you're probably going to be more concerned about those extra pounds than someone who's buried under 3 or 4 layers of clothing 6 months a year.

I'm guessing those travels didn't include a lot of time in Northern European countries.

[jasper1372]

Originally Posted by BATCAT

I'm guessing those travels didn't include a lot of time in Northern European countries.

No, you're right. Although we've been out of the country half a dozen times (never in Europe), my comments were just about the US.

Tell me what you've observed in the Northern European countries, I am definitely curious. If you'd care to share, I'd also be equally interested in "what" you've observed and "why" you think this is the case.

[ohio_peasant]

My own observations comport with those of the OP. Having lived in smaller towns, in suburbs of major cities and closer to the city core, I do not discern a huge difference in clothing-choices, unless we limit our sample to the city financial-district or theater-district or gentrified neighborhoods, where the locals are bound to be more elegant. But more broadly, the culprit, I think, is less about fashion than about lifestyle, and in particular obesity. Gone are the days when small-town and rural people worked manual jobs, whether on the farm or in the factory. Now they drive their Ford F-350s to their office-job. Meanwhile, their urban counterparts are perhaps doing similar jobs, but they are walking to the metro station.

It would of course be useful to see actual statistics on obesity, plotted vs. population-density and size of the metro area.

Speaking both about the US, and northern Europe, it seems to me that city-life tends to place more emphasis on being slender and athletic, or at least looking slender and athletic. Presumably, all young people – and in particular females – feel pressure to be thin. But this pressure is very much sparser and less acute in the rural and small-town areas. In the corner of Northeast Europe from which I hail, the term "villager", or in particular "village girl", is synonymous with "overweight and prematurely aged". Something similar, if more tactfully phrased, also applies in the US.

A similar statement could be made about people encountered in airports and train stations, vs. highway rest-areas or roadside gas stations. In fact this was the subject of a very contentious thread 1-2 years ago. Why is the airport crowd more attractive than the highway crowd?

There is of course the unmistakable role of affluence. In a bygone age, being corpulent meant being wealthy, for it indicated freedom from manual labor and access to surplus food. Today this has reversed. Other than the desperately poor, who may be outright malnourished, one finds, I think a strong correlation between affluence and thinness. And from this it's no great leap to make a statement about affluence vs. physical attractiveness.

[In_Correct]

Originally Posted by IM90046

I have been to 45 states, to many big cities, many small cities and it seems to me that the most beautiful people are typically in the larger cities. Why is it that the more cosmopolitan a person is the more beautiful they are?

Not saying that only ugly people live in rural areas. Have seen hotties in the middle of no where but just very few of them.

Is it Competition? more current with trends? Aren't people in the city typically busier and should theoretically have less time to groom themselves and are generally more stressed out, no?

Cosmopolitan people are very interested in being beautiful, obviously.

Ugly people do seem to live in rural areas. They might have more time to groom themselves in rural areas, but they are much more lazier so they just go without grooming themselves. However, people are very overworked in urban areas. And as a result, they will usually multitask while driving INSTEAD OF just driving. Nothing will ever be done about this just like nothing will be done about the drunk drivers with no restrictions on cell phone use while driving, in this great Ambulance Chasing Attorney nation.

Stressed out?! No, here in land everybody is stressed because there is just too much drama, "back stabbing", and various crimes. And they seem to drink much more beer, and they eat much more meat in land. Meat by itself, without vegetables. So all this significantly ages people in rural areas. Also in rural areas there are county hospitals which suck. In urban areas they have much better quality of hospitals.

Also, cities are beautiful. As a result, the people enjoy being in the cities and the beauty rubs off onto them. You might argue pollution, but I have seen much more garbage in rural areas, and much less recycling in rural areas. Also many cities have Urban Forestry. So they have beautiful expressways and skylines and trees to look at. The trees are still alive despite the urban "pollution".

[luzianne]

One thought is people in less populated areas aren't prone to "putting on airs." They are not going to put on makeup and dress up just to please other people or pretend to be superior to other people. They don't care if you don't like it. They are what they are and they make no apologies for it - which is kind of refreshing.

My second thought is: I have seen plenty of ugly people in cities. So I don't think they are ALL congregated in non-city areas.

[stiffnecked]

Women that don't wear makeup and don't try to look like fashion models tend to be the most beautiful in the world. I've been to most of the big cities in the country and I found a lot of the women there to be caked in pounds of makeup wearing clothes that just look silly. If I wanted to see clowns I'd go to a circus.

[Chicago76]

Money, education and lifestyle are the key issues IMO. The "beautiful" people the OP sees in cities tend to be the areas in which more highly skilled, educated, and wealthy individuals roam. They tend to eat better, exercise more, and have more money to take care of themselves. They are also exposed to more recent fashions and tastes and are generally expected to dress better in their respective positions than people in smaller towns.

Smaller towns have people who are generally less educated. They don't have as much money for fancy gym memberships or yoga. They have their local big box grocer and clothes from fairly generic retailers. They can't as easily afford fancy salons and tend to spend more time at home away from public spaces where they are seen all day long.

If you go to more working class areas of major cities, they more or less resemble small towns in terms of health, fashion, appearance, etc.

[Slowpoke_TX]

In reading this thread, I find that most posters equate beauty with "plastic." It's as if the concept of natural beauty doesn't exist, or has been discarded in favor of looks that can be, in one form or another, purchased.

At least Luzianne got it right.

[green papaya]

people in cities tend to be a higher social class and they take better care of themselves, plus big cities have more diverse backgrounds or people from all over the world, much more International and the chances of seeing more beautiful people gets higher, the schools are also better and they also tend to continue their education and become professionals



lower class rural people tend to live off junk food, dont excersize, too much sun exposure, live off the system, poor hygiene, they let themselves go and think it's normal to weigh 250 lbs or more, you also tend to see entire families of obese people from small towns.

the smaller the gene pool, it's almost like a town of inbred people, they marry locals and the gene pool isnt very diverse, they could be your cousin.

some people from small towns are happy just to get their GED or High school diploma and they tend to stay in small towns since they cant get good jobs in the cities on a GED / HS diploma

so they tend not to advance much and just live a simple life and dont worry about their appearance, thats why people from small towns kind of look similar.

[s1alker]

When I lived in rural PA you would be hard pressed to find attractive people. Between the obesity, drug abuse, poverty wage manual labor jobs people tended to be pretty rough looking. The women tended to prefer "thug" black men as well.

Good looking people are generally of better genetic stock and would be more likely to live in more affluent areas. When you're living in a major metro area, working a white collar job, and going out bar hopping and clubbing on weekend it helps to be attractive. Also because of walk able neighborhoods and less car usage obesity is far less than in smaller towns and rural areas.

But honestly I feel I saw the most attractive people in bigger cities in Europe than in America. The women especially dress so nice and are very lady-like in their personalities.