S-Shaped silhouette
Extraordinarily well-preserved, this dress, fitted to the knee, opening in a circular flight and with a train that slides over the floor, was created to add the finishing touch and enhance the fantasy of the S-shaped silhouette.
Between 1890 and 1900, Dr. Inès Gâches-Sarraute (1853-1928), a corset maker with a medical background, presented a healthier alternative to the ‘V’ corset. We are talking about the ‘Healthy Corset’ or ‘Abdominal Corset’. After seeing many women with gynaecological problems caused by prolonged use of the corset, Gâches-Sarraute focused on creating a structure that would not put pressure on the lower abdomen, thus avoiding damage to the organs.
By adjusting to emphasise the waist, these new models pushed the hips back and the chest forward. Their innovation would also end up shaping the representative silhouette of the time, which gradually became exaggerated, with the help of padding, both in the bust and in the back. As with all fashions that reach hyperbole, the sylph-like silhouette was once again harmful to health, and thus unintentionally resulted in another step towards the subsequent renunciation of the corset.
Although women shaped their bodies with the corset and accentuated their curves with padding, the reality is that we cannot rely entirely on the images of the time as irrefutable evidence, as photo editing was already in existence. Using paint and brushes, features such as waists were diminished and hips enlarged.
Although AI-generated influencers have caused a sensation lately, the reality is that this is not a novelty, since ‘The Gibson Girl’, created by the cartoonist Charles Dana Gibson, appeared as early as 1890. Despite being a fictional character, her impact was such that she became the aspirational standard, not only in aesthetics but also in lifestyle, and would be a key point in the dissemination of this silhouette and other trends of the time, such as the “cottage loaf” hairstyle.
