“Whether it’s contemporary or 19th century, they want to know what size it is or what size it would correlate to, or what measurement it is,” said the curator of Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. “We as a culture, as a society, are obsessed with size. It’s become connected to our identity as people.”
This obsession fuels societal pressures to appear a certain way and to have a certain body type, particularly among young women, stemming from a cultural construct of the “ideal” body, which has in turn changed over time — as long ago as pre-history.
Thousands of years ago, sculptures and artworks portrayed curvaceous, thickset silhouettes. More recently, in the late 20th century, thin, waif-like models filled the pages of fashion magazines. Now, shapely backsides are celebrated with “likes” on social media.
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