Women’s Bodies of Time

If you’ve frustrated yourself by trying to achieve an ideal body shape and size most of your life, you’ve been chasing a moving target. In the past century, the so-called ideal body shape has changed from thin to curvy and back again.

Historically, the ideal female body weight usually drops as women gain economic or political progress then goes up afterward in a sort of backlash. Thin was in, for example, when women earned the right to vote in the 1920s when the Pill gave women sexual freedom. When each of the world wars ended and women gave up their male-oriented wartime jobs and returned to the home, the ideal womanly form was decidedly more feminine—rounder, softer, and fuller-figured.

Here’s what was ideal during different periods in history.

After the population drop caused by the bubonic plague in the fifteenth century, the ideal female form was a pregnant look. Women packed the fronts of their dresses with pillows.

During the 1920s, the rail-thin flapper was in—no breasts, no hips, no curves.

After World War II and though the 1950s, the voluptuous, curvy, rounded look was the ideal. Marilyn Monroe epitomized this body type. Many girls stuffed their bras with toilet paper to try to look larger-breasted.

In the 1960s, Twiggy was the woman to watch. Small breasts, rail-thin bodies, and straight figures were in.

Thanks to plastic surgery, the image of the ideal woman has become even more complex and unnatural. Features like huge breasts and full buttocks, which normally require women to maintain an above-average amount of body fat, are surgically placed on models and actresses who have very thin frames and wear size-three clothes.

As women become bigger players in the fashion and media industries, they are controlling more of the spending dollars available to businesses. As these women say “no more” to the unrealistic ideals of the end of the twentieth century, Dr. Johnston says diversity will gain favor in the fashion industry.

“Of course, there will be ebbs and flows with every trend, but hopefully there will be fewer extremes and fewer women obsessed with the ideal body image,” she says.