Includes bibliographical references (pages [173]-181) and index.
Contents:
The approach to illness -- The curious case of consumption : a family affair -- Exciting consumption : the causes and culture of an illness -- Morality, mortality, and romanticizing death -- The angel of death in the household -- Tragedy and tuberculosis : the Siddons story -- Dying to be beautiful : the consumptive chic -- The agony of conceit : clothing and consumption -- Epilogue: The end of consumptive chic -- Concluding the fashion.
Summary:
"During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there was a tubercular moment in which perceptions of the disease consumption (tuberculosis) became inextricably tied to contemporary concepts of beauty, playing out in the clothing fashions of the day. With the ravages of the illness widely regarded as conferring beauty on the sufferer, it became commonplace to regard tuberculosis as a positive affliction, one to be emulated in both beauty practices and dress. While medical writers of the time believed that the fashionable way of life of many women actually rendered them susceptible to the disease, Carolyn A. Day investigates the deliberate and widespread flouting of admonitions against these fashion practices in the pursuit of beauty. Through an exploration of contemporary social trends and medical advice revealed in medical writing, literature and personal papers, Consumptive Chic uncovers the intimate relationship between fashionable women's clothing and medical understandings of the illness. Illustrated with over 40 full color fashion plates, caricatures, medical images, and photographs of original garments, this is a compelling story of the complex connections between the body, beauty, and disease --and the rise of tubercular chic"--Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.