In 2006, the legendary writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron was, to borrow the title of the book she released that year, feeling bad about her neck. The perceived decline of this particular part of the body was a real tell-tale sign of ageing, Ephron believed. But if she was around to muse on beauty culture in 2025, I’m pretty sure she would have honed in a little higher up, with her (self) critical gaze landing somewhere around the mandible bone that lends shape to our lower faces and chins. Because right now, I feel pretty bad about my jawline. And I’m certainly not the only one.
A defined jawline has been a desirable physical trait for decades, even centuries. Just think of the square-jawed hunks of Old Hollywood, the angular beauty of Katharine Hepburn, or, for a few more contemporary examples, Angelina Jolie’s exquisite bone structure and Bella Hadid’s striking features. For as long as I’ve been aware of what’s deemed beautiful (aka ever since I was a young girl listening in on older women bemoaning their appearances), I’ve had it drilled into me that a double chin was something to try and avoid. I’m someone who is naturally round of face, so this particular flaw was always my personal neurosis; photos in which I had any wobbliness around the jawline would get deleted (or at least detagged).
