Un-Natural Beauty

Rereading this for some research, I was struck by the following:

In fact it nearly became expected that we'd show our unmentionables, and therefore bare our bodies. But we couldn't bear our bare bodies as they were, so we began to go to gyms and hire personal trainers. We became slaves not just to skinny, but muscular. We were to be equally strong as men -- only we had to wear pretty panties of power too. And if all this diet and exercise was diminishing our curves, well we could fix that too; we'd get implants.

This awareness of what a 'healthy body' looks like in skimpy-scanties drove fashions which didn't allow for bodily flaws. You couldn't fit girdles & slips under these clothes -- and even if you could, you'd better not! These were body bearing fashions. Even if the fashions would hide, allow or forgive foundation garments to fix your flaws, fashion designers wouldn't.

The shoulder pads of the 80's were heartlessly ripped out as women were told to create their own damn shoulder mass to counter balance the female curve of hips. Lycra was put into everything -- including the garments we wore to the gym to work for bodies which could wear them. Hell, many of us desperately purchased home workout videos so that we could get in shape enough to present ourselves at the gym to get a membership. (And we were right to do so, for gyms were the new meat markets where sexy healthy people paired up.) We couldn't even hide behind big hair and perms for now hair became as straight & sleek as our bodies.

As if this weren't enough, work-out fashions became everyday clothing. Bicycle shorts, sports bras, leotards & leggings (what yoga suits & pants were called before they were called 'yoga suits' and 'yoga pants'), and tank tops replaced t-shirts and jeans. Clothes pressed ever tightly towards our bodies, leaving nothing to the imagination save for what colorful play wear you had at home to prance about in.

With fashion returning to the 80's will all this Lycra and body consciousness also make a comeback?

Which reminds me... Do you remember how we put our exercise expectations onto little girls? Mystie remembers Get in Shape Girl which was the way for little girls to have that "just like mommy" Jane Fonda Workout. Corny as it seems, maybe we should make more of these kits for our fattening American children...

But let's not get so carried away with it that we destroy self-esteem.

Look at these heartless beauty & diet books from the 60's and 70's.

That 'Princess' Luciana Pignatelli was an interesting cat; check out the old book review at Time. Also, The Times has a 2003 article on the status of a 68 year old Pignatelli, should you care to read how she's fared. Here's a quick bit:

And natural is not the look she has achieved. The plump lips and wide eyes remind me of a de Kooning woman. The mobile mouth seems disconnected from the frozen brow. "Let's face it, miracles don't happen," she says, as if reading my mind. "What counts is the spirit. To have young friends, to have a good time, not to be outdated. This is what counts."

My research project will be taking some time, and I'll be making some notes here -- so be prepared for more oddball and sad trips into beauty-hells-past.