BOOKS
Charting a century of developments in fashion and beauty, the historian Virginia Nicholson makes fascinating discoveries
THE WORLD CHANGED DRAMATICALLY BETWEEN ₁₈₆₀ AND ₁₉₆₀. NO WONDER, THEN, that it was also a major epoch of evolution for fashion. As women’s place in society evolved, so their wardrobes went from storing crinolines to bikinis.
This progression is the subject of the latest book by Virginia Nicholson, the acclaimed writer and social historian, who has long viewed fashion as the ideal tool through which we can examine societal mores. ‘What are our aspirations? What are our beliefs? It is all there in how we present ourselves,’ she says.
Her wonderfully engaging investigation has a feminist quandary at its heart. Was the radical rising of hemlines really a wholly positive revolution? Certainly, the physical exposure of electric lights, photography, lower necklines and shorter skirts also led to greater anxiety about women’s bodies and often drastic measures to address them. ‘Freedom from petticoats came with a price tag,’ she observes.
Nicholson illustrates her history through perceptions of the feminine ‘ideal’ for each age, including Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the eccentric aristocrat Diana Manners, the American pin-up Betty Grable and the French film star Brigitte Bardot. They are intriguing jumping-off points for discussing the westernised standards of the time, and how the often-unattainable metrics of pale skin, specific body types and expensive, often impractical attire affected all types of women.
There were surprising discoveries along the way: the tale of Dr Suzanne Noël, the first female plastic surgeon, who saw her work as deeply feminist; how Belle Epoque‘Professional Beauties’ were the original influencers, and
