Female ideal body shapes throughout the ages.
There is a distinction between cultural influences on what we idealize, and the aesthetic preferences that seem to be hard-wired (i.e., across cultures and time). Often, the two are difficult to untangle. With that in mind, the following video from Buzzfeed purports to show varying female body ideals throughout history. Aside from the fact that all the models are ridiculously attractive, it's still an interesting clip, if not entirely reliable. It is also necessary to point out that there is large individual variation in what people find attractive, and the importance people place on physical attractiveness. In other words, people's individual preferences often deviate from the ideals, and physical attraction often takes a back seat to other traits that are more important in terms of attraction (e.g., personality, interpersonal style, etc.).