JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Currier and Ives did and endless series of prints where fictional women were presented as ideals, this one entitled " Phoebe ". That 1860's neckline vanished along with the hoops just a few years later. The famous post war bustle drew attention elsewhere and er, larger parts of one's anatomy were admired well, larger.
Using fictional women on purpose because it seems intrusive illustrating era ' beauty ' using someone who may have objected.
Phoebe nicely illustrates two mandated features of the era, a ' well rounded ' arm and sloping shoulders. How you added roundness to forearms is anyone's guess. No idea how you'd slope your shoulders but it was a ' thing '. This snip from 1859 is terrific- we clearly valued enough pounds to create all this. It's very nice even if pellucid nails have gone out of vogue. ( no idea what it means ) AND one's bosom wasn't the centerpiece to female charm.
I apologize for all the ' white ' emphasis both in era images of ' beauty ' and text. It's a little unnerving to see in 2019. One book is so emphatically lyrical about the word it seems clear there was a point to it- and not one you'd like.
Standards of beauty have sure changed since our ancestors waved goodbye to their own idea of loveliness standing on her doorstep, hoops, hair buns and dust catching skirts. IMO there's ' good ' and ' bad ' to our progression. What was wonderful about our ancestors' idea of beauty is their lack of insistence on sunken cheeks and hips that cut paper. Dresses for someone with the ' well curved form ' you see described as the ideal would hysterically be found in the plus-sized section today, a good tan was considered coarse, make up a sure sign of low living and everyone felt a little sorry for the girl so thin she'd never attract a husband. Goodness forbid you had some muscle- not only were plump arms de rigor, there was copious instruction on how to achieve them.
The chapter goes on to ask we encourage our ears to be pink and nicely folded, to bind strips of beef to one's face to discourage wrinkles. describes an ideal face as one which is divided by one's nose (?), tells you a tincture of pounded up boxwood, fat of stag, ambergris, white brandy and rose water will keep your complexion pink ( bet it would ), bemoans " scraggy " arms and tells you the cure for this " deformity ", gives hints on hiding those massive feet, recommends we have a more nice roundness to a medium sized chin and if you have man shoulders to please swath them in scarves.
Little pre-war, " Elizabeth ", from LoC, displays charms inclusive of' sloping' shoulders and those well rounded arms. Since it's physically impossible to possess a wasp waist and good, round ( white... ) arms at the same time, maybe it's where corsets became handy.
" Elizabeth ", a pre-war ideal although we can't see her pink, well-folded ears.
IMO, while we'll never entirely loose our tendency towards measuring one's worth based on what someone looks like it does seem younger generations are tossing this useless yardstick in the recycle bin along with 80 dollar pots of age cream. We've come a long, long way from the day when small feet were so admired wealthy women sometimes had their slippers sewn on each morning, the better to show off one's small foot. That's a true story.
How women of the era were able to hide the muscle inevitable in a hugely physical life is anyone's guess. We pay monthly fees to gyms and personal trainers. Bet a gajillion bucks the same workout was part of daily life just doing the laundry. Buckets of water, scrubbing, wringing then lugging the whole thing to your back yard where you hoisted it piece by piece onto a rope? There's a free workout.
Yes, frequently it was someone else doing the hard labor. That set you free to experiment with bee's wax, arsenic, rose water and mercury- if your complexion wasn't as shiny as your hair you were doing something wrong.
" Fanny ", on her wedding day. I'm not poking fun at any of this although it's difficult not to laugh at descriptions of cheeks that mandate they be " Soft, full yet firm, wide and rounded, not plump ". We've done this to ourselves over centuries and IMO I'm impressed by our ancestors' disinclination to use what we think of as female buzz words guaranteed to make us feel inadequate, awful at not ' measuring up ' and plain old aged. Like it's all over.
They left us this too. Despite the over-the-top patriotic theme, Liberty sure had those arms, is portrayed as a healthy woman and not the weedy boy-girl present ' standards ' throw at us and is obviously allowed to be strong, sloping shoulders and all.
Ever read a book where you're sure you wouldn't get along with the author? There's an 1859 publication by a famous ' beauty ', a how-to for those not only aspiring to the author's beauty, there are chapters devoted to ' how to get a man ' plus a good section on strategery for guys. It's about how to charm women via various underhanded methods. You know. How to lie well so we'll turn into jello.
That's whole, ' nother thread- the art of courtship. Considering the plethora of wonderful courtship stories between soldiers and their sweethearts it doesn't seem they needed much advice.