Name The Last Time There Was So Much Naked

[KAT]

since Im not allowed to post any "vintage nude" pictures here i will just say that you guys should remember that by looking at those old photographs women had a "fuller" "curvier" body!
In my eyes "delicious photographs" and for me its ART!
And not because Im german but there are a lot of beautiful pictures and books about beautiful nudes from the 30s and 40s..google it. How they viewed the beauty of the naked human body and celebrated healthy sexuality, without the degenerate sexual exploitation that is so common in our society.
Try to discover the difference between Porn, a "naked body" and ART
Theres nothing prettier than a beautiful naked " not so perfect" body! male and female!

 

[scotrace]

Choose

Would you like to see this?

This?

*


Or this?

*thanks Marc.

 

[scotrace]

since Im not allowed to post any "vintage nude" pictures here i will just say that you guys should remember that by looking at those old photographs women had a "fuller" "curvier" body!
In my eyes "delicious photographs" and for me its ART!
And not because Im german but there are a lot of beautiful pictures and books about beautiful nudes from the 30s and 40s..google it. How they viewed the beauty of the naked human body and celebrated healthy sexuality, without the degenerate sexual exploitation that is so common in our society.
Try to discover the difference between Porn, a "naked body" and ART
Theres nothing prettier than a beautiful naked " not so perfect" body! male and female!

I agree 150%.
But it should not be the normal way for people to go out in public.

 

[VintageJess]

I agree that much of it can be attributed to the cultural push to "let it all hang out." We have all been ingrained to be 100% PC and accepting. Thus instead of trying to hide imperfections, we just assume that we should let everything out in the open.

I think someone else mentioned that there is a lack of training in proper dress, and I agree with that as well. I think people just buy whatever is trendy and in the stores with little regard to their size, body type, coloring, etc. As a result, it seems that people often end up in some of the worst possible outfits--ones that maximize their flaws instead of minimizing them.

I also believe that some of it can be linked to a youth obsessed culture. It seems that people don't believe in aging gracefully these days. They want to try to continue to dress like an 18 year old when they are 50. But unfortunately, most 50 year olds don't have the body of an 18 year old. :eusa_doh: So, instead of wearing more age appropriate and flattering outfits, people are still trying to be "youthful" and trendy and it just looks odd to me.

I agree that it's not so much about the size. I've seen some larger people who've managed to look fantastic because they chose flattering colors and cuts in their clothing. On the other hand, I've seen others with fantastic figures that look incredibly trashy and cheap because of the clothes (or lack thereof) that they were wearing.

Jessica

 

[Quigley Brown]

It's not the "plump." It's the "Showing the Body."



People look better in clothes that disguise the imperfections than they do exposing them. So why have we abandonded the art of looking our best?


There! That's it, in a nutshell.






Plus, there's Marc's point: Groupf of naked people are stinky.

Why do you call them 'imperfections?' What in your opinion is a 'perfect' body?

 

[HistWardrobe]

bare naked ladies (& gents)

It's all a matter of what one is culturally used to. In America and Britain, we're a lot more prudish than some of our friends on the Continent, particularly those in Scandinavia and German-speaking areas where people seem to REALLY love the sun and seem determined to expose as much skin to it as possible.

Case in point - I remember walking around downtown Zurich in the early 1980s and being astonished to see masses of people sunbathing NUDE in a public park on their lunch hour. Mostly men -- and face up too - causing me to imagine the horrors of getting a sunburn on one's "mating tackle".

This is right smack in the middle of a major city, with skyscrapers all around, not on some Greek island beach.

Ah Greek beaches. I remember when I lived in Europe 15-20 years ago being just about the only female under 50 who was NOT sunbathing topless. I was married to a Tory politician at the time and was deadly afraid I'd run into some British tabloid photographer and see my "assets" splashed on the pages of the News of the World or some such. But even if that had not been the case, I just wouldn't have felt comfortable.

A common site was rather portly elderly ladies who would sunbathe topless and then strip off completely and change, in full public view, to another bikini (wearing both pieces this time) and gellies sandals to go swimming, and then come back, strip off the wet bathing suit and change back into their sunbathing mono-kini. What's the point - might as well just go nekkid.

Sorry, to me this is a big Glamour Fashion Don't. Public nudity is best avoided by people whose pubic hair has gone gray and by those who are seriously huge.

On Santorini, I developed Coombs' First Law of Greek Beaches. "The Age and Weight of the German Woman is Inversely Proportional to the Size of Her Bathing Suit". Apologies to Kat and all other Germans on the list -- it's just that my American upbringing and natural born prudery shapes my attitudes. We are all products of our culture.

I've got no problem being nude in a public sauna (ok, blush, I'm the one with the towel), but I just plain feel uncomfortable being nude or near nude on a public beach. And I totally couldn't do it in a city park.

I wouldn't feel "nude", I'd feel downright "nekkid".

Carrying about 10 lbs more than I should and being middle aged, ergo causing that surplus poundage to submit to gravity, I'm better off in a 1940s bathing suit anyway. If not an 1890s wool one with a full skirt!

PS - while on the subject of weight-appropriate clothing, I believe that Lycra is a privilege, not a right.

 

[Braxton36]

the chicken or the egg...

Whilst I agree that much of this derives from laziness and "not knowing any better" - I also submit to you that some over-exposed dressers are somewhat at the mercy of the modern fashion industry. In the complete absence of taste, the consuming public has few options. Did the fashion industry respond to demands from the slovenly to create more sloven or did the marginally dressed in the first place simply acquiesce to the available choices at the local department store?

Case in point: Since my daughters were tiny babies, I have loved to buy clothes for them. As infants and small tykes I chose traditional cottons and linens with smocking and cute little what-evers sprinkled about. They wore pretty much the same thing my mother dressed my sisters in a generation earlier and I suspect further back, as well.

Now as older children approaching teenagers, it is well-nigh impossible to find things for them that don't make them look like pint-sized prostitutes. Exposed skin, fake leather and furs, strapless, see-through, shirts emblazoned with suggestive vulgarities, shorts that are too short, pants that look like panties, sequins, feathers... you name it. If I was running a bordello for pre-teens, I know exactly where to look for costuming - right in the neighborhood retailers!

At our house, we don't have exposed anything. We don't wear black, we don't wear shirts with other people's names on them, and so forth. I'm the most hopelessly out-of-date father on the planet (so I'm told). But slowly these standards are kicking in. We agree and compromise. Thank God for Polo which still makes childrens' clothes that are decent along with LL Bean, J.Crew and a few others. Trendy? Probably not. But that's ok. Paris Hilton is lucky she wasn't born Paris Braxton.

 

[VintageJess]

PS - while on the subject of weight-appropriate clothing, I believe that Lycra is a privilege, not a right.

lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I just don't understand how a woman who is obese (not overweight, obese) can put on a pair of pants two size two small and then a shirt that doesn't cover the fat that is squeezed out at the top. That's not flattering! We all know larger women who are very attractive and sexy and beautiful, and always they know how to dress to flatter. I think that gets lost in today's fashion.

Different styles look better on different frames. Not everyone knows this. Maybe that's the problem - someone needs to teach both the skinny and the fat what flatters.

 

[Lincsong]

It seems that people, no matter their physical appearance have the same mental capacity. Therefore, if someone in their brain wants to walk around naked, then ergo, they're not going to care what anyone else thinks, as long as they're comfortable.

 

[scotrace]

well said, miss_bella

Twiggy thin, Oprah Chubby; a body like Tom Selleck or Sydney Greenstreet. There are flattering clothing styles for each person. Appearing almost naked isn't AS flattering for any of them. There are no perfect bodies.

 

[raiderrescuer]

Lack of Common Sense ?

Could it all just all boil down to a lack of common sense ?

The same people who dress "Muffin Top" are probably the same people who cut you off in traffic and flip you the bird for not allowing them in or sue you for millions for dropping the hot coffee they ordered on themsleves.

As for myself, I know I do not look good in a Speedo so you'll never see me wearing one. (Think "Never trust a skinny Cook".)
But then again I don't remember seeing too many men who should wear Speedos.

 

[mysterygal]

Very true Bella, people don't know what looks good on them...how to choose fabrics and outfits to best compliment their figure.
Scot, I have done the same thing you did, scan the crowd for someone who looks healty and well dressed. Sadly, I too have found it to be rare.
Girls are not being shown how to be ladies, and there are very few examples out there of true women. To dress scantily, In my opinion, is an effort to get affirmation. Unfortunately, it is the wrong kind that a woman is looking for. We want to be thought of as desirable, but too many women want it so bad their risking other's lack of respect for it...which is only a downward spiral, since lack of respect plummets self esteem
There is no way in hell that my girls will go out of the house looking like what I see out there. And I have no care to compromise AT ALL (this is where my bull-headed stubborn nature comes in handy )

 

[katiemakeup]

It's not the "plump." It's the "Showing the Body."



People look better in clothes that disguise the imperfections than they do exposing them. So why have we abandonded the art of looking our best?


There! That's it, in a nutshell.






Plus, there's Marc's point: Groups of naked people are stinky.

If it's not about the "plump", then why did you even mention it in your first post? Why not just leave it at skantily clad clothing on people? Why did you post a picture of an overweight woman with a thong out? Why not a picture of Paris Hilton? She always has her thong out.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

But then again I don't remember seeing too many men who should wear Speedos.

Maine beaches are scary in the summer. Lots of Speedos!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

If it's not about the "plump", then why did you even mention it in your first post? Why not just leave it at skantily clad clothing on people? Why did you post a picture of an overweight woman with a thong out? Why not a picture of Paris Hilton? She always has her thong out.

I agree with Katie here....

You say its not about the plump, but then your photographic example was of two non-fat women covered up......and then a larger women poorly displaying her knickers.....compare like with like and we -might- beleive its 'not about the plump'

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

If it's not about the "plump", then why did you even mention it in your first post? Why not just leave it at skantily clad clothing on people? Why did you post a picture of an overweight woman with a thong out? Why not a picture of Paris Hilton? She always has her thong out.

I can't speak for him, but I think generally we year-2000-something humans tend to believe that "Lean"="good", so overweight people are targeted more negatively than lean people.

If you're asking why *that* is the case, open any fashion mag or turn on the tv.

 

[scotrace]

If it's not about the "plump", then why did you even mention it in your first post? Why not just leave it at skantily clad clothing on people? Why did you post a picture of an overweight woman with a thong out? Why not a picture of Paris Hilton? She always has her thong out.

Good point. You're right.

Almost all of the people I saw last night were very heavy AND almost naked. So that was my mental image as I wrote.

If for hundreds of years people covered up, why in just 40 (actually more like 20) years have we stopped?

 

[mysterygal]

I don't know if this is what Scot was getting at, but I too have noticed how overweight society is, but not only that, plump or skinny, most people look sick. You don't see someone with a healthy glow to their skin. I don't know if it's just because I'm health conscious [huh] but it is concerning to me to see people not looking well

 

[scotrace]

I agree with Katie here....

You say its not about the plump, but then your photographic example was of two non-fat women covered up......and then a larger women poorly displaying her knickers.....compare like with like and we -might- beleive its 'not about the plump'

I simply couldn't quickly find any pictures of well-dressed plump people, or poorly dressed skinny ones. Convenience.