A colourful account of women’s health beauty and cosmetic aids from stays and corsets to
today’s viral trends Victorian women ate arsenic to achieve an ideal pale complexion
while in the 1790s balloon corsets were all the rage designed to make the wearer appear
pregnant. Women of the eighteenth century applied blood from a black cat’s tail to problem skin
while doctors in the 1880s promoted woollen underwear to keep colds at bay. Beautification and
the pursuit of health may seem all-consuming today but their history is long and fantastically
varied. Ranging across the last four hundred years Margarette Lincoln examines women’s
health and beauty in fascinating detail. Through first-hand accounts and reports of physicians
quacks and advertising Lincoln captures women’s lived experience of consuming beauty products
and the excitement—and trauma—of adopting the latest fashion trends. Considering everything
from body sculpture diet and exercise to skin teeth and hair Perfection is a vibrant
account of women’s body-fashioning—and shows how intimately these practices are related to
community and identity throughout history.
