Abstract Body

The concept that the human form possesses an idealized natural state provides a revealing counterpoint to the numerous body-modifying mechanisms that have abstracted the figure for centuries. With the formalization of tailoring as a specialized craft in the Middle Ages, clothing acquired an increasing capacity to structure and regulate. At the same time, the growing differentiation between men’s and women’s dress coincided with a heightened awareness of the potential of garments to mold and sculpt the body.

Women, especially, adopted a wide array of undergarments designed to manipulate the silhouette in accordance with shifting ideals of elegance and propriety. This section highlights several devices that redefined the female figure during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the corset, pannier (or hoop), crinoline, and bustle. Although these structures departed from the classical ideal, they nonetheless articulated standards of beauty specific to particular historical and cultural contexts. Such sartorial artifices enabled women to approximate the prescribed aesthetics of their time.