ABSTRACT
The expansion of mass consumer culture during the twentieth century had a profound impact on the female body. It resulted in shifts in the way bodies were represented and in women's attitudes towards their bodies which, in turn, transformed the body itself. During the last 100 years female appearance has changed dramatically – women in the late 1990s looked very different from women at the turn of the century, the 1920s, 1950s or 1970s. Each of these periods is associated with distinctive images based on changing fashions in clothing, hair styles and use of cosmetics. However, the transformation has gone beyond mere adornment and included manipulating the weight and shape of women's bodies. Examples are the accentuation or concealment of waists, breasts or legs. Clothes and, especially, underwear played a major role and the hourglass figure of the Edwardian era was based on tight corsets. Nevertheless, foundation garments were of limited use to acquire the youthful, slender body popular in the interwar years and since the 1960s. This was based on a so-called 'internal corset' achieved through dieting and exercise. A recent phenomenon, dating from the 1980s, is the growing emphasis on body-shaping exercise to develop muscles in female bodies.
