Understanding Victorians and their Influence

victorian body Ideals

whilst looking into victorian beauty ideals one of the books that stood out to me the most was fashion and eroticism : the deals of feminine beauty from the victorian era to the jazz age, written by Valerie Steele (1985) published by oxford university press.  Valerie Steele has published books with very feminist views and had studied female ideal's in many different ways. In this book I found her point of view very refreshing, she looks at the connotations that were attached to beauty ideals in the victorian era and compares that with the current connotations whilst underlining shifting fashion ideals from the early nineteinth century to the twentieth. My attention was brought to a woman's sexual appeal in the victorian era and how they may portray this in comparison to the way we do now.

I think this illustration shows the way women in the victorian era showed their allure in a much different way. although in this illustration they covered majority of their body their are no legs or arms on show from reading this book I can now acknowledge they are enhancing the shape that was desired at the time, a small cinched waist whilst also having large hips and curvaceous size. the ruffles ad lace work to make areas look larger and although it is not tight to the skin they were cleaver to keep a mans mind wondering and it was all about the idea and silhouette they created. The victorian era is often linked to corsets as it was one of they're famous methods to slim areas without removing any curves. This is still in an age where size and wealth go hand in hand and although the idea of a slender figure has began to ebb in, a curvaceous woman still symbolises high status. In a sense the victorians actually began the fetishism of sexual culture yet in such a different way. as this illustration exhibits, the victorians way of showing flesh provocatively was to show their shoulders. or leave even more to the imagination and wear fine lace over the shoulders which would reveal only glimpses of skin colour underneath, this was scene as a way of keeping dignity.

the method of glimpsing skin through lace has been interpreted by women ever since,  you can see how drastically it has changed throughout the times and the same has come with the connotations of corsets.  In catwalk today we see undergarments, wether it be corsets or lace, starting to feature much more. In a lot of peoples opinions foundation garments should be for your own private domain. but in catwalk today it is beginning to re-emerge as the victorians saw it, an essential to producing the final desired effect. They smooth, they lift and they cinch to perfection. Catwalk has always been daring, but cat walk clothing is still controversial in public. This is due to the role of clothing and its connotations. Clothing has the power to connote morality in concealing, as well as generate lust and wanton behaviour. Yet the very eroticism evoked by risqué clothing or lingerie attracts through being suggestive and sexual promise. a nude body is less interesting than a partially clothed one because it's entirely exposed and all the mystery is revealed.

Either way when it came to victorian body ideals and the way they wanted to be perceived it seems they may have got it right. it is interesting to see how small things they used to do have actually been the beginning of something much more ostentatious and now it may have even become a competition  between the women of different eras to create a couture to allure our men the best.