JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Dance? Pre-1960's women had the energy to dance. This Regency era print illustrates a centuries long satisfaction with feminine curves- and delight in them.
Era fashion does not enable you to see ' figures ' well although familiarity did not prepare me for this. " Lankys ", whether a made-up term by this author or an identifiable ' type ' were women whose Oreo stash was a little low. Lacking womanly curves, objects of pity and too thin. Yee haw, people.
Somewhere in the last 50 years or so the expectation we all look more like tall boys and less like the females our ancestors somehow, in all their unenlightened states, knew we were, has become carved in bone. How silly.
Chose this era image because this woman is an obvious a follower of fashion, beautifully dressed, a stunning woman who took great care to present herself this way- and as obviously has not focused on ' thin ' or not thin. The focus, as focus generally seems to be in ear photos, is on the woman, her clothing, sometimes family and wedding and children and occupation. She may be a college student or teacher, hence the book.
Came across a magazine article making hash out of everything which ' sells ' in 2017. Not a thing ' wrong ' with the lankys, either- spent most of my life poking new holes in belts and chopping off the long end. It's the societal attitude- and the massive change, our ' new ' insistence we all fit somewhere most just, plain do not.
Because we're girls. Our ancestors liked us that way.
Told you this was a treasure!
Yes, the corseted waist- meant to enhance curves.
A diet was included, pretty much what you would expect. It's a little like what we now refer to as ' comfort food ' and see women confess to their BFF's, over non-fat, no caffeine, tepid taste brown water lattes the next day. For lunch.
A lot of slender women can be pulled up from the internet in photos dating between 1861 and 1865, certainly. We worked really hard. Processed food did not exist, not as it does today. Same women laced those corsets more tightly- these morphed into girdles, enhancing other feminine charms. It all went to heck when Twiggy splashed across media in the 1960's. We've fought our own figures ever since, the tall-little-boy ideal somehow replacing our own genes.
Demorest's corset- designed ' above ' and ' below ' for women. It sold hugely.
Mme. Demorest was an incredibly successful business woman. She and her husband built a fashion empire based on women looking wonderful and feeling wonderfully feminine- and terrific about themselves. You learn a lot hanging around in History.