Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed

by Harold Koda

Over time and across cultures, extraordinary manipulations of the body have occurred in a continuing evolution of the concept of beauty. Fashion can be seen as the practice of some of the most extreme strategies to conform to shifting concepts of the physical ideal. Various zones of the body—the neck, the shoulders, the bust, the waist, the hips, and the feet—have been constricted, padded, truncated, or extended through subtle visual adjustments of proportion, less subtle prosthesis, and, often, deliberate physical deformation.

This stunning book shows that an undeniable if uncanny beauty abides in the bundled cylindricality of a geisha tottering on raised geta or clogs; the tea-tray supporting bustle of an 1880s French visiting dress; the double-door expanse of eighteenth-century panniered court gowns; the bound feet and caged nails of aristocratic Manchu women; the neck-extending chokers of the Masai, of Edwardian beauties, and of John Galliano’s designs for Dior; or the waist suppression of the sixteenth-century iron corsets and the cinches of early-nineteenth-century dandies. The photographs of fashion are augmented by paintings, prints, and drawings, including caricatures by Gilray, Cruikshank, Daumier, and Vernet.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Art, History, Fashion History

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2001

About the author

Harold Koda (3 January 3, 1950) is an American fashion scholar, curator, and the former curator-in-chief of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reviews

[Muffy Kroha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is it! I am officially cut off!!!!!
I got this in the mail today- It looked worthwhile, but it is better than I had dreamed!!! As someone who has been indulging a recent obsession with architectural clothes who has a life long habit of restructuring her body with corsets, girdles, and 8" heels it may as well have been written for me- As many of you know, I once broke up with a guy while hopping up and down trying to get my girdle on and just a week or so ago, I broke my ankle falling off of an 8 inch heel shoe! (I'm still trying to come up with a treatment for the cast as I have 7 weeks to go! I'm feeling fur/ apres ski) This book has an engraving from the 1700's of the same trick I was employing when I took the fall!!!!!
I will scan it and put it in my myspace!!!
Just finished this!
FANTASTIC!!! I have so many hot tips on how to achieve all of the effects that I've failed at before and a renewed love of Mugler!!!! The book that launched a thousand ebay searches!

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fashion book takes the odd and interesting idea of focusing on the parts of the body that are often featured in dress and fashion throughout history: Neck and shoulders, Chest, Waist, Hips, Feet. It discusses how the focus changes. Included are the obvious: ruffs, brassieres, corsets, bustles, and Chinese foot-binding. Many if not most of the modern examples seem to me to be unwearable, being fashion catwalk versions of some designers' exaggerations. This covers both men and women by the way. Shown are a samurai in formal kimono, an Elizabethan man with a ruff, somebody's fancy armor, Dinka warriors in beads and not much else, an Elizabethan man in trunk hose, and others. But it's mostly focused on women's fashions and designers' excesses.
Mostly it makes me glad I'm not interested in high fashion or the latest thing.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A study of the way fashion changes the body, complete with photos and drawings. Very interesting and informative. Not a story book, more like a text book yet easy to read. However, I would think most people would enjoy looking at the photographs at the least and maybe like to have this book sitting out for visitors.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit meh for me, simply because I'm not at all interested in any fashion post-1950, and also because all information is pretty basic stuff. I didn't learn anything new. Still, it's pretty to look at, and well put together.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible study on the various erogonous zones that fashion has historically altered, enhanced and distorted.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an artist who deals with the body, I found this book really amazing.

[Allison]

Examines the significance when fashion amplifies parts of the body throughout history and cultures. Haut Couture images as well as historical images

[Kevin Connery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit academic, but nice coverage.