Pear shape body...

[deadpandiva]

But the sad part about being built that way is NEVER being able to find a suit that fits, and I adore suits. I will have to make one to get the fit right and more importantly, proportions that help and not hinder.

I have the same problem. I have decided that I am going to get a vintage suit jacket and just make a skirt in a complementing color. I got the idea while watching Covergirl.

I think my poor body image stems more from the fact that designers don't make clothes to fit pear shapes even though it's the most common body shape.

 

[Paisley]

Some stores sell their suit pieces separately.

 

[gluegungeisha]

*Disclaimer: When I refer to skinny figures in a negative way, I only mean the unnatural, starved, unhealthy image of our times. Some people are naturally skinny, that is a totally different thing and a very special beauty indeed.

Well-put, and much-appreciated! Naturally tiny girls *ahem* need lovin' too.

I also love those images!

I hate being pooled into a group that receives so much negativity all the time, when in reality, I eat twice as much as the rest of my family does...without a trip to the bathroom afterwards, thankyouverymuch. So many hurtful misconceptions!

 

[Miss 1929]

Not good 40s vintage suits!

Some stores sell their suit pieces separately.

And that's what I want... Yes, modern ones can be had, but the workmanship, style, and fabric are all pathetic compared to a real 40s gabardine by say, Lilli Ann!

 

[Paisley]

And that's what I want... Yes, modern ones can be had, but the workmanship, style, and fabric are all pathetic compared to a real 40s gabardine by say, Lilli Ann!

Sold separately at Talbots.com. Available in black, blueberry, branch, red rouge, and winter white. Sizes 2 to 20. Not vintage, but I find their clothes to be high quality.

 

[gluegungeisha]

It must be nice to eat and eat and eat... I am married to an excellent cook (Mexican, the most fattening thing in the world) and I wish I could just let myself go all the time! Lucky girl.

Oh, my body will probably catch up with me in a few years...

Mexican food whenever you want?? Mmmmmmm!

 

[PolkaDotMeggie]

I was so tickled pink with the picture that was posted of Marilyn Monroe. I feel so much happier about myself after seeing that! I always thought that the little bumb I had was horrible. It would never seem to go away, so matter how much I tried... but now I want to embrace it. It even convinced me to change my avatar.

 

[Fletch]

One sometimes wonders just where all this thinness came from. 100 years ago, amplitude was stylish because it betokened abundance. (Of course, 100 years ago, a woman couldn't show so much as an ankle and still be a lady. Connection/s? Hmmm.)

On the one hand, thin was liberating. It freed women from the imperative of being an attractant for men and a platform for children. On the other hand, it handed the female form over to a purely esthetic and commercial master called fashion, which over the years became further and further estranged from a woman's physical nature (and I don't just mean attracting men and bearing children).

Think of this. How come there was a silent rebellion, embracing not just varied female physiognomies, but out-and-out celebrating fat? It was a backlash, that's why. A slap in the face to too many years of size zero models and eating disorders - perhaps with a nod to dim memories of foremothers' girdles* and Jell-O salads, and definitely with a middle finger raised to male beauty ideals (which at least, let it be said, never embraced starvation as a desirable trait).

*You have no idea how many times I typed "girldes" when I meant "girdles."

 

[Miss 1929]

Must check it out!

Sold separately at Talbots.com. Available in black, blueberry, branch, red rouge, and winter white. Sizes 2 to 20. Not vintage, but I find their clothes to be high quality.

Just to see what there is... thanks!

 

[pigeon toe]

I love my pear-shaped figure (I'm about a 33-26-35.5), but sometimes it's hard to feel confident having such wide hips and fuller thighs when I'm so petite! Most of the other girls I know who are around my height (5'2") and even taller are much, much thinner than I am, or have more lean and less curvy figures. It's wearing pants that really bugs me though. I usually wear jeans when I'm at school, but it's taken me until this past month to find a pair of jeans that come above my hips and actually make me look good! I hate low-rise jeans with a fiery, fiery passion.

Which is one of the reasons why I LOVE wearing dresses and skirts. They are much more comfortable than jeans and I actually get to show off my small waist and big hips. I seriously get way more looks than anyone else that I'm with when I'm dressed in say, a really high-waisted pencil skirt. Whether they are looks of interest or looks of "Why is she committing that dreaded fashion faux pas?", I like stirring up people's ideas of what a woman's body should look like.

Helen Troy, I love that photo you posted of Marilyn Monroe. So cute! One thing that's always disappointed me with pin-ups, specifically Bettie Page, was that she was always sucking in her stomach so her ribs were showing. So it's refreshing to see an actress NOT sucking that in and trying to pose in a way that hides a little tummy role. It's making me re-think the way I suck in when I'm being photographed.

 

[Miss Brill]

MM's body wasn't perfect, but it sure looked damn fine:

Another great body--
Anita Ekberg:

And Jayne Mansfield:

 

[Helen Troy]

Great pictures! And look at that last pic of MM: I think I spot cellulites!
Clearly, the myth of cellulites as a flaw was not yet invented, and so thought of retouching this. Great to see!

 

[pennycarrol]

Wow I love these photos!! Especially Anita!!! These women were proud and happy about themselves... That's reassuring!! Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos!!

 

[PolkaDotMeggie]

MM's body wasn't perfect, but it sure looked damn fine:

Goes to show that every woman needs a fantastic swimming suit like that one. Who wouldn't feel perfect??

 

[Miss Brill]

Great pictures! And look at that last pic of MM: I think I spot cellulites!
Clearly, the myth of cellulites as a flaw was not yet invented, and so thought of retouching this. Great to see!

Isn't it beautiful?! I found that picture online awhile ago & it had the bottom of her suit cut off & you couldn't see that she was a bit lumpy on the bottom & the back of her legs. Then I found the full picture & couldn't figure out why it had been cropped, but now I wonder if someone assumed she'd be ashamed of her bottom now? They did the "airbrushing" 60 years too late, trying to make her look perfect like modern women are supposed to be?

There are also some great ones of her shortly before she died. She is nude & holding a sheer scarf over her breasts & you can see that they weren't perfect either.

I know there are some beautiful nudes of Jayne Mansfield around, but I saw one of her in a book where she had on a bikini & you could see that, in the sunlight, her breasts were stretched out, and she had celulite on the front of her thighs.

It is hard seeing all of these women looking immaculate and wondering how they did it/do it, and feeling like a slob, and thinking maybe another 5lbs lost will cause that perfection, and then you see their flaws, and you realize it was the lighting, or the foundations, or the airbrushing.

 

[Helen Troy]

Thanks so much for posting this pictures. When I feel down and feel like a fat unfit slob, I have two sure tricks to make me feel better: To look a photos of celebrated beautys from before the retouching era, and se how this wonderfull women are actually real, and that their splendid beauty does not come from unnatural perfection.

The other trick is to look at retouching studios before and after-examples, (like this one that I mentioned in the Dita von Teese thread,) and see how much faking there is nowadays.

Sometimes I think that retouched and photoshopped pictures in ads should be labled with a warning, like the ones on cigarett ads: "This picture is retouched and does not represent reality. To compare yourself to this could lead to self-loathing."

 

[Fancy Mouse]

Helen, I've seen that site you posted before, but I never stop being amazed that one of the "improvements" that they felt it was necessary to make on the pictures of Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria and Katherine Heigl (who are all stunning in the before shots) was seemingly to remove their rib cages! What is that?!

 

[Miss Brill]

I'm in a group on Flicker, and someone posted this picture of Marilyn. Could she be more beautiful and natural and normal?

 

[pennycarrol]

Wow!! This photo is amazing!! Yes she's a real woman lol!!!

 

[BillieMae]

Pear shaped bodies...

I can really empathize with you on this one. I have more of an "hourglass" figure, but it has the same large-hipped look to it. I always agonize over my proportions. I'm a 42-33-40...which would be fine if it weren't for the fact that my waist is incredibly high. I am the epitome of the hourglass shape, and modern clothing does almost nothing for me, especially those horrible trapeze/trash bag dresses that are so in right now. They make me look like a large circus tent, which is not okay.

The best advice, I think, is too accept your shape. I finally just said, "okay, none of the girls I know have such dramatic body shapes. So what?"

In fact, I love wearing skinny jeans because they emphasize the largeness of my hips, even though all the fashion mags say skinny jeans are for skinny girls. I'm a size 10/12 and I wear my skinny jeans with curvy pride. Just find things that make you feel sexy. Even if your sexy isn't the same as what a magazine, movie, or even your friends, it is yours.

You can only be as sexy as you feel. I say get some skinny jeans, or a pencil skirt, and show off the fantastic curves god gave you with pride. You are, after all, a woman!