The big bum theory
Posted by Lucky on Dec 31, 2009
In lean economic times, fashionable women seek a weighty silhouette,
Fashion designers around the world have positioned the silhouette of a full-seated woman as the shape of the new year.
Despite all the clatter about stick-figure models and the popularity of starlets with narrow, boyish hips (see recent fuss over Demi Moore cover on W magazine), round, plump, curvy rears – or at least the appearance of them – are all the rage. Not since the frothy pouf of the 1980s has so much attention been paid to a woman’s posterior.
To be sure, these are not the flesh and bones booty of celebrities like Beyoncé, but rather the sartorially enhanced booty – the artificial hips created by fashion designers – using old-school panniers for example, or even bustles and bum pads. Other designers pump up the volume of skirts with deep gathers of fabric that achieve the same exaggerated effect as a pannier – but without the structure. What Antonio Berardi achieved with rigid boning, other designers got with flourishes of fabric.
Former Argentinean beauty queen Solange Magnano died recently due to complications that resulted from a butt lift – a gluteoplasty that went horribly wrong. She suffered a pulmonary embolism after firming liquid travelled to her lungs and brain. Apparently, such surgeries have become popular, especially in Latin cultures, due to what’s labelled the JLo factor – referring to the famous curves of Jennifer Lopez.
Buttock rejuvenation is an increasingly popular procedure, especially for people who have experienced dramatic weight loss, confirms the American Society of Plastic Surgeons which estimates about 3,500 butt lifts and 853 buttock implants were performed in 2008.
Squeamish but fashionable women are choosing to fake their way to a voluptuous figure. Women are still struggling to stay skinny – but they are experimenting with the concept of a full, round bum through artificial means. Designers are providing women with the impression of a full, stylish derrière – a costume they can remove at the end of the day.
It’s not new. Bums were also big in the 18th-century. See the exaggerated hips of Kirsten Dunst in the 2006 movie Marie Antoinette. And in The Young Victoria, the women are corseted at the waist then flare dramatically through the hips.
The modern version of the big-bum look was kicked off by designer Stefano Pilati in his spring 2005 collection for Yves Saint Laurent – his first for the house. At the time it received mixed reviews. The silhouette was considered unwearable and it was predicted the look would never take off.
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| ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO |
| Even shapely women like Jennifer Lopez enhance their natural assets. |
But women warmed to the bustle and tulip shaped skirts – and other designers followed suit.
For spring 2010, fashion designers including John Galliano, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Giambattista Valli and Jason Wu riffed on the appearance of wide hips. Here in Toronto, designers such as Romona Keveza and Pink Tartan focused similar attention on wide hips. Keveza featured sleek one-shoulder tops with flourishes of feathers on short skirts.
Patricia Bentley, education curator at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, agrees the prospect of having oversized hips is not particularly appealing. But the notion of playing with a costume that provided the “look” of an enlarged bum could be intriguing.
“The idea of exaggerating one part of the body over another is as old as humanity itself,” she says. “Women can play with the idea of androgyny one day and the next become an earth mother – a womanly figure – neither boy nor girl.”
The main difference between the 18th-century woman and the 21st-century woman is that back then the pannier was a trend that everyone followed.
This fall, when the design department at the Hudson’s Bay Company asked 10 Canadian fashion designers to reconsider the traditional Hudson’s Bay point blanket coat, Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish, of Comrags, went long, prim, Victorian and – yes – the designers incorporated a detachable bustle into the design.
“It is such a strong silhouette,” says Gunhouse, “especially in the side profile. We liked the idea of this heavy wool tailored into an exaggerated feminine shape. There are so many sack or straight shapes out there. And even though it’s a little impractical there is still a real appeal to those curves. We liked running our hands over the coat.”
Alexandra Palmer, senior curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, suggests a variety of influences have conspired to make the hips the centre of attention. There isn’t just one reason why people try to reshape their body. It’s arbitrary, she says, explaining the trend. “It’s extraneous and unnecessary.”
Palmer says the fuss may be a result of our current interest in vintage clothing. It may be because maturing baby boomers are tired of trying to maintain a youthful, thin figure – so they’re making curves cool again.
It may even have financial undertones.
A woman with a full figure is deemed sexual, fertile and successful – unlike the impoverished, undeveloped teen.
Or it could be simply a playful thing.
Fashion is constantly fiddling with scale and proportion, says Palmer.
“It’s fun to do because it’s on your own body. It’s not like architecture. You can always go back to your basic shape.”
source:http://www.thestar.com/living/article/743950–the-big-bum-theory
