The purpose of this study is to figure out what the beauty of the modern body means and symbolizes from the aesthetic, sociocultural, and psychological perspectives and to investigate how it was formed in the modern Korean society. The data were obtained from the magazines and newspapers published from 1920 to 1939 and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The results were as follows: First, the modern body from an aesthetic standpoint was characterized by the beauty of westernization, healthy body shape, sensuality, curvaceousness, activity, balance and harmony, and artificiality. The beauty of the modern body from a sociocultural perspective symbolized modern culture and implied the value evaluated by visual appearance. Therefore, the modern body became an object of consumption and the physical capital that gave women chances for their social success and happy marriages. The beauty of the modern body from a psychological viewpoint expressed individuality as a modern ego. Second, the formation of modern body esthetics was explained within the context of social comparison theory. The ideal body suggested by mass media was internalized as the aesthetic standard women used to create modern bodies and with which they compared their created bodies.