2 of 2 copies available
Through an exploration of contemporary social trends and medical advice revealed in medical writing, literature and personal papers, Consumptive Chic uncovers the intimate relationship between fashionable women's clothing, and medical understandings of the illness. Illustrated with over 40 full color fashion plates, caricatures, medical images, and photographs of original garments, this is a compelling story of the intimate relationship between the body, beauty, and disease - and the rise of 'tubercular chic'.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 5, 2017 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781350009400
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781350009400
- File size: 17892 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 1, 2018
Historian Day (Furman State Univ., SC) examines how late 18th- and early 19th-century England's cultural ideas of beauty and fashion were reflected in the disease of consumption, or tuberculosis. Idealized and feminized in the discourse of the period, consumption was linked with a creative and sensitive intellect among the middle and upper classes. The symptoms, especially in women--white translucent pallor, a red flush on the cheeks, extreme slenderness, white teeth, large pupils--were held up as models of aesthetic beauty. In neoclassical dress, thin fabrics and styles that exposed women's limbs, backs, and décolletages to England's damp climate were thought to cause consumption. Later, in the 1830s-40s, tight corsets created the desired slender torso reflected in the physique of the consumptive, while at the same time, by putting pressure on the lungs, contributed to the disease. VERDICT Drawing on medical treatises, beauty manuals, fashion periodicals, and other literature of the period, this thoroughly researched and erudite work will satisfy those interested in social and cultural history.--SR
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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June 1, 2018
Historian Day (Furman State Univ., SC) examines how late 18th- and early 19th-century England's cultural ideas of beauty and fashion were reflected in the disease of consumption, or tuberculosis. Idealized and feminized in the discourse of the period, consumption was linked with a creative and sensitive intellect among the middle and upper classes. The symptoms, especially in women--white translucent pallor, a red flush on the cheeks, extreme slenderness, white teeth, large pupils--were held up as models of aesthetic beauty. In neoclassical dress, thin fabrics and styles that exposed women's limbs, backs, and d�colletages to England's damp climate were thought to cause consumption. Later, in the 1830s-40s, tight corsets created the desired slender torso reflected in the physique of the consumptive, while at the same time, by putting pressure on the lungs, contributed to the disease. VERDICT Drawing on medical treatises, beauty manuals, fashion periodicals, and other literature of the period, this thoroughly researched and erudite work will satisfy those interested in social and cultural history.--SR
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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