Support and seduction

by Béatrice Fontanel

This lighthearted book, loaded with historical facts, anecdotes, and images ranging from the hilarious to the sublime, recounts the often surprising history of the many types of garments Western women have worn for support - and seduction. An assemblage of elegant and amusing fashion illustrations, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and photographs reveals the changing shapes of beauty through time. Tightly laced Victorians, Roman athletes, Rubenesque beauties, Mae West, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, and Madonna are all pictured, along with advertisements for every kind of garment imaginable. Far from frivolous, this history of bras and corsets is really the story of women's - and their bodies' - emancipation.