A trio of delightful (?) etchings, all copyright of the British Museum, to remind us that fashion has been tampering with the ‘natural shape’ of women for hundreds of years. Rarely has the exaggerated female form been so dramatically illustrated as in the late 1780′s and early 1790′s.
In the first etching, entitled Female Whimsicalities, we see ‘Prominence 1785′ as carrying all before her, and with such an uplift that it has the odd result that her chin is nestling on her embonpoint! No neck, just an elevated and pronounced pair of knockers which would shame a modern-day Jordan! Her posterior is positively gargantuan.
click the pic to see more.