San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-01
Female standards of Beauty.

Standards of beauty are different in
different ages. Fashion alone not
only changes ideas of graceful form,
but she changes the human form
itself A psychologist shows that
since the in Introduction of the corset,
the "perfect feminine figure" in art
has changed. Even the nude woman
OF the nineteen tn century is different
from the model of past centuries
The Venus of Milo, which, since her
discovery in the Island of Milo
in 1920, has been accepted as
the most perfect ancient type of
beauty, would measure about rs fol-
lows figured down to a woman of 5
feet inches high: Neck, IA IL inch
es; bust SO IL inches; immediately
under bust, 81 inches; so called waist
line, 80 inches; hips, AZ inches; length
of foot, rs inches; upper arm, II l-2
inches. The strong point of campari-
son with modern models is that there
is difference of but 6 IL inches be
tween the wrist measure and the
bust measure. The sculptor of the
Venus believed in full waist and u
small bust. HIS goddess should she
shrink to feet inches in height,
would wear No. 6 shoe. Most of the
great paint ers of the earlier days
agree wirh the sculptors. The nude
figure in Titian's Ear thly and Heav-
emily LOve' has an extremely slight
curve at the waist line, and there are
dozens of illustrations to the same
ideal.
Probably it would not be fanciful
to trace thel decline of the waist
the period when corsets made their
appearance. At any rate, art shows
. change in its ideals. being infiu-
enced very naturally by the character
of the figures available for models.
The impress of the corset ID begin
ming to be accepted in French illustrs-
tions of the nude figure There are
masters who adhere to the splendid
ideals illustrated in earlier life and
art, and still not impossible of reali-
cation. But they are conspicuous by
their rarity. A distinguished
artist is quoted rs giving
these proportions for perfect
female figure: ITO meet the require
ments of q classic figure lady should
be feet 4 8 inches tall, 80 inches
bust measure, "a inces waist, 9 inches
from armpit to waist, long arms and
neck. A queenly woman, however,
should be 5 feet inches tall, S6 inch
es about the bust, 26 IL about the
waist, 35 over the hips, IL l-2 inches
al ound the ball of the arm, and 6 IL
inches around the wrist. Her hands
and feet should not be too small"
The modern dressmaker tradition
agrees with the artists. eff the bust
is 49," says the dressmaker, 1.-The
waist must be 22-l0 inches differ
ence." In the Gays of the empire
robes were gathered Immediately I'M
der the bust in the Grecisn manner
Women swathed themselves in ma
terial to make their waists large. In
the later days of stays waists shrank
and fell-fell TO the line just above
the hip, and just above the hip the
waist line remained, in spite of the
walls of the artist and the threats of
the doctors.
Women have hot only actually but
relatively shorter legs than men
Fashion plates never confess this in
the treatment OF skirts but artists
have always urged on this account
that women should esta blish the waist
line as high as possible. Probably u
great many people have the fact con-
verted, but the truth according to the
classic models, is that in good fig
ure mans waist tapers and wo-
mans does not, while the mans legs
are longer than the woman's.
Both the Apollo Belvedere and
Michael Angeles David show
greater length of lower limb than the
Mcclellan Venus. On the other hand :,
the discrepancy between the length
of limb of women and men Of today is
even greater. The doctors say that
lacing and carrying weight on the
hips have made women shorter and
heavier in the legs than they were In
the days of Phidias. If women ever
dress so as to reveal the form of their
leps lacjnp and hin hurdens will