Echoism, Facial Symmetry

Facial symmetry is neither the only trait nor is it necessarily the most important trait of what a culture considers attractive. A competing aesthetic theory is wabi sabi. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and suggest a natural process. Both symmetry and asymmetry may have aesthetic appeal that also play a role in art. The asymmetry which does not mean the conjunction of two parts that are completely unalike and unrelated to each other but the conjunction of similar and related parts that are to some extent contrasted to one another is considered to have the most aesthetic appeal.
Interpersonal attraction
Suzi Malin, a British portrait painter, wrote Love at First Sight to examine the relationships of 50 celebrity couples. She speculates that there are three aspects of facial symmetry which attract one person to another: echoism, harmonism and prima copulism. Echoism is the similarity of one or more facial features, particularly the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. Harmonism is a similarity in facial proportions, usually involving the features and the distance between them. Prima copulism is an attraction to another person based on them having similar features to someone with whom they formed a strong interpersonal bond with at an early age, usually a mother or father.