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Jan 1, 1500
Elizabethan Era 16th Century 1500's
In Elizabethan times, the fashionable female body shape was like a bell: a huge lower half, small waist and flat chest. An armour-like corset made of iron was worn to flatten the chest for a breastless look -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
perception of health
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17th century 1600's
In the seventeenth century, corsets became more like the corsets we recognise today. They known as ‘stays’ and were more usually made with whalebone rather than iron. Petticoat hoops and rolls fell out of favour giving the lower half of the body a more natural shape. -
Rococo- 18th Century 1700's
In the 1700’s skirts were hooped again but the hoops were flat at the front and back to make a really wide shape from side to side. This was also achieved with a panier, a frame-work undergarment tied to the waist to support skirts at the sides. Women's ‘stays’ were tightly laced to draw the shoulders back and give a high, round bosom and upright posture. Very tight corsets sometimes caused a woman to have to retire to the fainting room! -
victorian era 19th centry 1800's
During the Victorian era, the ideal body type for women was plump, fleshy, and full-figured. They wore restrictive corsets, which made waists artificially tiny while accentuating the hips and buttocks. These corsets also caused a variety of health problems with breathing and digestion -
the new women emerges 1890-1910
At the start of the 1900s, slenderness became more fashionable. There was an increasing interest of women in athletics and physicians began to see body weight as a 'science' of calorie counting, 'ideal weights', and weigh-ins. At this time the physically perfect woman was 5'4" tall and weighed 10 stone. -
The Jazz Age 1920's
By the 1920s, the Victorian hourglass gave way to the thin flapper who bound her breasts to achieve a washboard profile. when fashionable women known as ‘flappers’ struggled for a thin, boyish figure with little or no curves. Undergarments included camisoles, panties, teddies, and bras that flattened the breasts for a more masculine look. It was even common for a woman to bind her boobs to look flat-chested! As dancing became popular with young flappers, the garter belt was invented to keep stoc -
Post Depression 1930's and early 40's
In the 1930's the women's sought a slightly curvier figure with a bigger bust but still wanted slim hips. Women of the 1930s brought the corset back, then called a ‘girdle’, which usually came with a bra and attached garters -
the war years 1940's
Western Standards of Beauty: An Illustrated Timeline
87
rate or flag this page By Maddie Ruud When Thin Wasn't In Hard to believe as it seems, thin wasn't always in. There are centuries of documentation of female beauty, and except for ours, the trend is fairly consistant: beautiful women are shapely, soft, and rounded. What a contrast is that idea to our current ideal - the waif-like figure introduced by Twiggy and popularized by the likes of Kate Moss! -
Recovery 1950's
By the 1950s, a thin woman with a large bust line was considered most attractive. The voluptuous (size 16) Marilyn Monroe set a new standard for women who now needed to rebuild the curves they had previously tried to bind and restrain. -
Social Upheaval 1960's
By the 1960s, slenderness became the most important indicator of physical attractiveness following the arrival of model Twiggy. She weighed in at a shapeless six and a half stones, and had the figure of a prepubescent boy. civil rights campaigns, as well as a new wave of feminism, throwing off the domesticity of the 50's. As women sought to distance themselves from the role of wife and mother, the androgynous ideal once again surfaced in Twiggy, a stick-thin model made popular overnight by a sin -
Sexual Revolution 1970's
In the 70’s a slightly more natural shape came in as petticoats and girdles became completely outdated and the ‘hippy’ lifestyle came into fashion. However, for mainstream society the look made fashionable for women was small hips and waist. The Sexual Revolution brought breasts and hips back into the picture -
Prosperity 1980's
fitness craze of the 1980's swept the West. Struggling to find bodies that might fit with their identities as liberated women, a generation was born obsessed with having "buns of steel" and "rock-hard abs." it became popular for people to sculpt their bodies through ‘working out’. This was the ‘power’ decade when women were expected to diet and exercise to become thin and more muscular but still with curves in the ‘right places’. Madonna’s cone-shaped bra, the ultimate ‘power’ underwear, gained -
Globalization 1990's
Weight loss becomes a multi-million pound industry. Kate Moss epitomises the tall, skinny ‘waif’ look. The other prevailing ideal is for women to be tall and slim but also with big boobs, a very rare body shape to occur naturally and extremely difficult to achieve. As well as diet and exercise, women still used lingerie to help get the body shape they sought, including corsets, body-shapers, control tights, push-up bras and magic knickers. -
2000 onwards
Today in our modern Western society, 'thin is in' and artificial means such as liposuction are often used to lessen the appearance of hips, buttocks and fat in general. Many celebrities have made being ultra thin trendy; and we're not talking about women who are naturally skinny, but ones who's weight has plummeted as their fame rises.