An exercise in madness--American women, fashion, and the impossible-to-attain silhouette.

Women have a history, in the U.S., of being incredibly swayed by the images in the fashion pages.

One of the ways some historians keep track of time, especially for American women, is to look at fashion magazines (as well as some film stars).

First of all, let's take a brief gander at changes in the 20th century.

For a long time, the so-called hour glass figure reigned supreme:

Jane Russell, in "The Outlaw".  Russell was the 20th century epitome of the hourglass figure.  But, this was a remnant of an earlier fashion silhouette--the 19th century ideal...see below: 

We're going to return to the corset in part two of this post.

I know, ewwwwww, right? Actually, there's a genuine possibility that this woman had several of her ribs removed, in order to achieve this impossible silhouette.

Let's take a brief look at relatively modern 'ideals' for women, just for a second, to show you  just how amazing fashion trends can 'cripple' women.

Let's move from the sixties to the early 2000's

That's Twiggy--one of the fashion icons of the sixties.  Obviously she didn’t enjoy a good steak dinner on occasion.

1970s

Let's begin with Cheryl Teigs

I know, not much change, right? 

Cybill Shepherd  

Now, you might be thinking, Dear Reader, that these gals are all white.  You're right.  The terrible truth is, that models of color were rather difficult to find in these years, but that began to change in the seventies....

The beautiful Naomi Sims

And....

Interesting, isn't it, how long the stick figure stayed in fashion, especially when compared with the hourglass figure that lasted at least as long.

Marie Helvin

Moving on to the 1980s.  Quite frankly, Dear Reader, a decade that continues to baffle me,--especially in terms of fashion.

The lovely Anna Bayle

The irresistible Grace Jones.

And, the 80s baffling fascination (hallucination?) with Lycra and headbands:

Heather Locklear

Well, you know who this is.

And, of course, Madonna

Yeah, the 1980s kind of defied explanation.

What about the nineties?

Kate Moss

Are you sensing a theme, a similarity yet?  But there was also a change in the 90s.

Tyra Banks

In the 90s, huge mammaries, and a curve-less body.

And yet, the flat chested Twiggy-like waif persisted.  Linda Evangelista

Helena Christensen

This is what was known as "grunge."

The early 2000s

Brittany Spears?

Blue jeans, anyone?

Naomi Campbell

Yeah, we're still at the waif stage.

Kelis

And, finally, today:

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out our current fashions.  Have you, Dear Reader?

Yeah, me neither.  However, I think we can agree that the waif look had persisted for the last 40 years at least.

Now, back to the corset.  Women have had no real reason for corsets since the 1960s.  But fashion defies both health and logic, doesn't it?  And, what fashion tool defied logic more than the corset?  

Let's find out....next bat time, next bat channel.