Exhibition: Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed
It's easy to laugh at such follies as the 1903 ad for "Men's Corsets, An Absolute Necessity," or the male stockings with fake calf muscles, but many of the body-distorting items in this exhibition are recent fashion misstatements. Categorized by anatomy--feet, waist, chest--this show is most surprising not when comparing Victorian support garments to the 2000 Issey Miyake bustier (above) but in its cross-cultural references. The Mongo women of Zaire, for example, wore a belt that looks like the tail of a Playboy Bunny.
--By Belinda Luscombe
Most Popular »
- Did Amanda Knox Get a Fair Murder Trial?
- Model Diets: How Celebrity Chefs Are Losing Weight
- How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy
- Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It
- College Campus Smoking Bans Have Some Saying 'Lighten Up'
- Slow Times At My 20th High School Reunion
- Why Fake Snow Is Filling Beijing's Bird's Nest
- India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan
- Singapore: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Paris: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- The Dollar in Danger
- Troubling Rise of Facebook's Top Game Company
- Hong Kong: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Workers of the World vs. China Inc.
- Washington: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Let's Bail Out the Pot Dealers!
- Are Minorities Being Fleeced by the Stimulus?
- Teen Obesity: Lack of Exercise May Not Be to Blame
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
DMITRY MEDVEDEV, Russian President, blaming nightclub managers in Perm, Russia for a fire that killed 109 people Saturday; the managers had refused to comply with fire safety standards despite repeated demands
RSS