A lot of photographs and portraits from this era show women wearing the fashionable silhouette, whether it flattered them or not, in our eyes. But even in the 18th century, whether drawn on the imaginary ideal or a painted portrait, artists tailored their work to an ideal that few women could meet. And until the latter part of the 20th century, with the advent of diets, plastic surgery, and just the rare draw of the right DNA, very very few women did. Also, the fashionable ideal in the later 19th century was curvy and so-called "pocket Venuses"(short but curvy women who could corset their waists to the fashionable ideal)rivalled the taller women, like Lily Langtry and Sarah Bernhardt, who are more attractive to the modern eye.
The important most important thing is fit. The latter half of the 19th century abounds in surviving photographed portraits where fit isn't the best. And few women could or would corset themselves to the fashionable ideal, just as today, few women really can meet the under-ideal-weight of fashion models and actresses. Proper drape and scale of fabric in both weight and design is critical for both dolls and short persons like me(below 5')Keeping to a single color tone is best on the short--for the tall and very thin, then as now, can wear all the wild color combinations of the Belle Epoque when new dye technology made really bright colors possible. Cindy Abel _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
