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When I see videos from 40s-80s it seems like young men and women in their 20s often looked 35+. Maybe its the clothes or all the smoking they did I dont know. But it seems to me 20 year old use to look a lot less kid like.
I agree, I think it’s in part due to tobacco smoking being popular back then and “youth fashions” being less extreme, especially in the 40s and 50s. I also think we now associate the curled bob hairstyles popular in those decades with older women, thus we register young women in 65-80 year old photos as older.
This is just speculation but I get the impression that young people in the 40s, 50s and early 60s wanted to be seen as older and gain the respect associated with maturity. I don’t think it was cool to be young in the same way it is today.
They were older, I'm actually serious.
Depending on your country but mostly around the world. You kind of stopped being a child at 11 or 12.
My parents and grandparents all had jobs by the time they were 10 or 11 earlier if you count land/farm work. A lot of girls were married and had children by 20. None or very few lived with mom and dad after age 18. You were expected to move out and be on your own by that point.
Compare that to today. A 22 or 23 year old coming out of college that has never had or been expected to have a job. A group of people who have had everything handed to them and still at 23 think the world owes them something for graduating from school.
It's easy to see why they looked 10 to 15 years older. Maturity wise they were.
They also tended to work more physical jobs so their bodies were more muscular as well - similar to the adults of the era.
I've always noticed this. When I watch movies even from the early 90s or older the people genuinely look much older than their age. A 25 year old looks late 30s sometimes even 40! And most 30 year olds definitely look 45 to me lol. And then I'm shocked at how the people who look elderly like 80 are usually only mid 50s. I know the style makes them look older but they have much more wrinkles too
I think that's because heathcare and beauty care knowledge wasn't as advanced back then.