omgthatdress:

cwnerd12:

historyishuman:

historicalslut:

historyishuman:

historicalslut:

theblacknationalist:

thexangorepublic:

Long before the Kardashians could get ass implants, the Hottentot images coming out of Southern Africa inspired European women in the 18th 19th century to enhance their profiles with the available technology.

MIND. BLOWN.

I never thought this.

Corrected the dates.

That dress is from the late 19th century to turn of the century. The fashion style was from the Victorian Era, not 18th century.

Would be interesting if it was true, but it is not. The Hottentot Venus was part of a European freak show. The development of the bustle was totally unrelated.

It came out around the same time as the imagery of the Hottentot Venus was circulating Europe. Hottentot Venus being part of the freakshow was only part of the imagery that was circulating around Europe. The development of the bustle came out of the same culture that developed the Hottentot imagery. They are indirectly related.

Ah, fair enough. It’s not accurate to say that the Hottentot Venus inspired the Victorian bustle, but that Hottentot was such a popular freak-show attraction for the same reasons the bustle was becoming popular.

Yeah, the bustle came about in the 1870s an extension of the voluminous hoop skirts of the 1850s and 1860s, and Sara Baartman, the so-called “Hottentot Venus” was a freak show act in London and Paris in the 1810s, when dresses were narrow and columnar.

On top of that, her body was seen as freakish, ape-like, and a sure sign of the inhuman-ness and lasciviousness of Africans, definitely not something that refined, cultured European ladies would ever want to emulate.

just correcting a bit of fashion history misinformation going around tumblr.