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Dying to be Beautiful: Fragile Fashionistas and Consumptive Dress in England, 1780‐1820
Author(s) -
Day Carolyn A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12512
Subject(s) - beauty , consumption (sociology) , period (music) , aesthetics , art , consumerism , sociology , history , political science , law
During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries there was a tubercular moment in which cultural ideas about beauty increasingly intertwined with the disease process of tuberculosis (consumption), allowing the ravages of the illness to be presented in an aesthetically pleasing light. The results of this discourse were visible in the fashions and beauty ideals of the period. This article addresses the dynamic interaction between fashion and disease in the period from 1780 to 1820, as not only was dress accorded responsibility as a causative agent of consumption but the ravages of the illness were also often highlighted by prevailing fashions.