Paperback with flaps, col. Illustrations. Over time and across cultures, shifting concepts of beauty have given rise to extraordinary fashions that constrict, enhance, minimize, or exaggerate various zones of the human body. This stimulating book displays and discusses an array of such extreme fashion practices, from the bound feet of aristocratic Manchu women to the tea-tray supporting bustle of an 1880s French visiting dress.
Accompanying an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this study traces the history of clothing that has sought to actually transform the contours of the human body in the name of fashion, including high heels, bustles, corsets, and push-up bras.
