This guest post is by Isabella Woods
Now, we know that the media and society are obsessed with thin culture, size zero ‘models’ and women who look like children. Despite this, evidence suggests that historically bigger is better and as we like to show off, the plus size fashion market is more attractive to the modern man but also, in many instances, to the modern woman.
With grown women dressed in little more than baby clothing, the fate of the plus sized citizen is seemingly doomed by popular media but this is not so. If we look back in time, you can see that the skinny phenomena is a sad, modern development and throughout the centuries before, women of larger size, healthier and bigger, were considered much more attractive.
Celebrating curvaceous bodies throughout history
The first instance in which evidence can be found of celebration of the larger human form is the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament. The text uses the phrase ‘your belly is like a heap of wheat’ and researchers believe the use of such a phrase suggests a rounder, larger belly than those seen on current day fashion icons. The idea of a heap is much more akin to a larger lady than a modern waif.
The sixteenth century Renaissance artists and poets are renowned for their love of the female form, complete with curves and flesh. A popular feature of many Renaissance paintings was Venus, the Roman goddess of love, often portrayed naked with a curvaceous, beautiful body, with no angular or sharp edges. Renaissance women were celebrated for being voluptuous, curvy and sensual.
Early modern literary trends veer towards the larger lady
19th century and early 20th century classic novelists were also not shy of expressing the beauty of the plus sized lady. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, the eldest sister, Meg, is admired and lusted after because of her larger size. Meg’s plumpness is what sets her apart from her younger sisters as she’s viewed as a woman instead of a girl as her body is developed, curvy and more womanly. It seems, in the 19th century, the trend was for women who looked like women and not those who looked like girls.
The early 20th century saw the publication of the risqué Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence with Lady Chatterley described as a larger plus-size woman with the description of the ‘curving drop of her haunches’ and ‘the heavy roundness of her buttocks’. The curves of Lady Chatterley cannot be questioned and it shows the trends of the time and what was considered beautiful and attractive.
Isabella Woods is a freelance writer who lives in London. Contact her if you need some writing done.
