From Silk to Silicone: Considering Bras, Breasts, and Cosmetic Sugery PDF

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From Silk to Silicone: Considering Bras, Breasts, and Cosmetic Surgery Rachel Kinnard Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Fashion Studies MA Program in Fashion Studies Parsons The New School for Design 2013 ©2013 Rachel Kinnard All Rights Reserved Ta...

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From Silk to Silicone: Considering Bras, Breasts, and Cosmetic Sugery Rachel Kinnard

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From Silk to Silicone: Considering Bras, Breasts, and Cosmetic Surgery

Rachel Kinnard Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Fashion Studies

MA Program in Fashion Studies Parsons The New School for Design 2013

©2013 Rachel Kinnard All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents Lists of Figures Acknowledgments Abstract Contents

1 6

II.

Limitations

9

III.

Theoretical Framework

10

Introduction I.

Chapter One: Theoretical Orientation and Literature Review

13

I.

Fashion and Skin

13

II.

Internalizing Dress

16

III.

The Postmodern Body

17

IV.

Cosmetic Surgery in Fashion Studies

18

Chapter Two: A Good Breast

24

I.

The Bra in Brief

24

II.

Bra, Breast, and Identity

27

III.

Shape Shifting

29

Chapter Three: Reshaping Stories

35

I.

Emily: The Big-Chested Girl

36

II.

Claudia: The Breast that Betrays

41

III.

Martina: A Balanced Body

45

IV.

Analysis

50

Chapter Four: Conclusion

53

I.

Summary

53

II.

Future Research

55

Bibliography

58

Appendix: Interview Transcripts

61

Lists of Figures Figure 1.1: “Shoulder Dysmorphia”

2

Figure 1.2: “Shoulder Dysmorphia”

3

Figure 1.3: Toe Reduction Foot X-Ray

5

Figure 2.1: Film still from Prêt-à-Porter

14

Figure 2.2: La Baigneuse au griffon

16

Figure 3.1: Advertisement for bust supporters, 1895-1908

25

Figure 3.2: Advertisement for bust cream, 1897

30

Figure 3.3: The Junon Reducing Brassiere, 1912

30

Figure 3.4: Advertisement for inflatable brassiere, 1951

31

Acknowledgments I am deeply grateful to the three women who granted me access to their stories of cosmetic surgery. My advisors, Francesca Granata and Lauren Downing Peters, thank you for your brilliant guidance and advice. Along with my own reading and research, this thesis project is the culmination of many conversations with professors, peers, and friends. Thank you to those who challenged my argument as it shifted and took form. Finally, thank you to my family for your support and inspiration.

Abstract In the twenty-first century, the distinction between dress and body is increasingly becoming more indistinguishable. A thorough analysis of the relationship between dress and cosmetic surgery is vital to the field of fashion studies. In western histories of dress, considerations of cosmetic surgery are typically found as a concluding chapter, presented to the reader as a commodity of post modernity and the future of body shaping. This thesis is an analysis of cosmetic surgery through the perspective of fashion studies in which I ask: what is the relationship between temporarily shaping the body through clothing and permanently shaping the body through cosmetic surgery? If bodies undergo cosmetic surgery procedures as a response to the experience of wearing fashionable clothing, can cosmetic surgery then be understood as a permanent form of dress? Focusing solely on cosmetic procedures of breast for this case study, I explore how the experience of dressing through bras and clothing can anticipate the decision to undergo a breast reduction or breast augmentation procedure. My analysis includes interviews with three women, currently in their twenties, who underwent either a breast reduction or breast augmentation operation when they were between the ages of sixteen to twenty years of age. Through these interviews, I situate clothing as agent of influence on an individuals selfperception of their own body. In doing so, I argue that cosmetic surgery creates bodies that mirror the practices of dress. This thesis aims to demonstrate how our second skins, our undergarments and our clothing, are instrumental in fashioning our primary skin, our bodies.

 

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“Without foundations there can be no fashion1.” - Christian Dior “Simply put, culturally we have shed our garments, or at the least we look through them unseeingly. For now the locus of awareness, and the site of intervention and activity, is to be found in the body itself (Susan Vincent, The Anatomy of Fashion).” Introduction In June 2010, the online fashion and art magazine DIS published an editorial photo essay entitled “Shoulder Dysmorphia.” Through digital manipulation the images depict women modeling deformed bone structures around the neck, shoulders and upper torso. The accompanying text explains how the dramatic shoulder silhouettes from high fashion collections have materialized in the flesh of the models featured (fig. 1.1 and fig. 1.2). “Shoulder Dysmorphia” portrays outcomes of surgical procedures performed for the sake of adapting the body to the silhouette of fashion. The editorial serves as satirical commentary on fashion trends and the expectations they impose on the bodies of those who strive to be fashionable. The provocative images wrestle with themes of fashion, yet their presentation lacks the traditional stylistic devices of mainstream fashion photography, which typically glamorize the subject into an object of desire. The somber portraiture style makes their critical commentary more apparent. Revealed is a perspective on fashion’s perceived control over the body and the outcomes of transforming bodies to fit absurd expectations. These images question the agency of clothing on the physical body. To what extent do individuals surgically operate on their bodies in

                                                         1 Quoted in Valerie Steele, The Corset: a Cultural History, 158 (Richard Martin and Harold Koda, Infra-Apparel 1993, 21).    

  order to accommodate the clothing they wear? How does clothing influence practices of cosmetic surgery?

Figure 1.1: “Shoulder Dysmorphia,” DIS magazine (June 2010), Marco Roso, Lauren Boyle, and Patrik Sandberg. The accompanying captions reads: “Cadaverous McQueen configurations come custom with cartilage collarbone extensions.”

 

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  Figure 1.2: “Shoulder Dysmorphia,” DIS magazine (June 2010), Marco Roso, Lauren Boyle, and Patrik Sandberg. The accompanying captions reads: “Get the Lanvin look for life, with an auxiliary bone ruffle implant.”   The relationship of body dysmorphia to fashion imagery has been in debate for a long time. The link between fashion imagery, unrealistic body expectations, and low selfesteem continues to be a popular discussion within cultural studies and the fashion industry itself. These striking images reveal another side of this issue, one less commonly discussed. By projecting the silhouettes of clothing onto the bodies of their models, DIS’s “Shoulder Dysmorphia” piece challenges the idea that body dysmorphia is limited to the influence of images alone. What about our clothing? How does the experience of wearing clothing and feeling comfortable in clothing create the need for surgical intervention? When do the primary skin (the body) and the secondary skin (clothing) become interdependent? Unsettling images of the body transformed to meet fashion are not limited to the digital brush of photo retouching. British photographer Zed Nelson included an image of a

 

 

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toe reduction X-ray in his series Love Me (2009). The X-ray depicts the post-op foot of Kristina Widmer (fig. 1.3). In an email conversation with Nelson, he described the image: This image was taken after surgery, once the toe-bones had been cut down and shortened. The metal pins are there to hold the bones together while they re-bond. A centimetre of toe bone is removed in surgery, and the toe is then held together with metal pins during the healing process. I met [the patient] before her surgery, I interviewed her, and she allowed me to photograph the surgery and the aftermath. She said she wanted to wear fashionable pointy-toed high heels. She told me ‘Jimmy Choo’ shoes are her favorite brand...and this surgery makes it easier to wear these quite extreme shoes...narrow and pointed, with a very high heel. In this account of toe reduction surgery the direct connection between surgical intervention to fashion is obvious - shorter toes can walk more comfortably in fashionable footwear. While the striking images produced by DIS are perhaps less disturbing due to their artistic nature and logistical improbability, toe reduction is a real surgical practice. Although the procedure is less widely known than other cosmetic operations, toe reduction surgery is a regular practice of some surgeons. Possibly unique to toe reduction surgery is the explicit statement from patients regarding their desire to permanently transform their bodies for fashion. New York Times reporter Alex Kuczynski includes toe reduction surgery in her book Beauty Junkies : Inside our $15 Billion Obsession with Cosmetic Surgery (2006). In her interview with Dr. Suzanne Levine, the surgeon notes the desire to wear Jimmy Choo shoes as a common reason among her patients for getting the surgery (Kuczynski 2006: 3).

 

 

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Figure 1.3: “Foot X-ray. Toe reduction surgery. Kristina Widmer, 36. New York, USA,” Zed Nelson. Initially inspired by the “Shoulder Dysmorphia” editorial, an artistic depiction of the relationship between fashion and cosmetic surgery, this thesis questions to what extent the wearing of clothing shapes the physical form of the body through surgical intervention. The influence of fashion on the decision to undergo toe reduction surgery may be obvious, but what about more common forms of cosmetic surgery? How can the experience of wearing clothing lead one to the operating table? This thesis is an analysis of cosmetic surgery through the perspective of fashion studies in which I ask, what is the relationship between temporarily shaping the body through clothing and permanently shaping the body through cosmetic surgery? If bodies

 

 

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undergo cosmetic surgery procedures as a response to the experience of wearing fashionable clothing, can cosmetic surgery then be understood as a permanent form of dress? I argue that the methods of temporarily shaping the body we inhabit through daily dress have an effect on the way we create expectations for our bodies that may ultimately lead to cosmetic procedures. A mammoth research question tangled in the history of the body and cultural practices of cosmetic surgery, this thesis can only begin to reveal the relationship between the influence, or agency of clothing in the act of surgical intervention. To initiate this investigation with a thorough examination of clothing to cosmetic surgery, this thesis utilizes a multi methodological approach. Initially inspired by the striking visuals of “Shoulder Dysmorphia,” my research began with a theoretical consideration between the boundaries of fashion and body. My argument sprung from a visual analysis of the DIS Magazine editorial, which aimed to examine the collapsed barrier between dress and body as illustrated by “Shoulder Dysmorphia.” Largely conceptual, this argument was molded by connecting Joanne Entwistle’s (2000) theory of dress as embodied practice to Karen de Perthuis’ (2005) concept of the synthetic ideal. Applying observations based on digitally manipulated bodies to the practice of cosmetic surgery and surgically manipulated bodies, my argument called for original research into the experience of cosmetic surgery as it relates to dress.

I. Contents This thesis begins by introducing the existing literature relevant to a consideration of dress and cosmetic surgery. It is not new for a fashion theorist to contemplate cosmetic surgery and the internalization of fashion in the flesh. What is novel is this project’s dedication to the topic in terms of research depth and focus of content. I attempt to

 

 

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thoroughly secure this topic as an important subject in the scope of fashion studies. By providing a foundational context of scholarship from various fields and illustrating the relationship of cosmetic surgery to dress through the case study of breast reduction and augmentation, I intend to provide an informed point of view on the subject. The bodycentered practices of cosmetic surgery and dress are joined in the perspective of fashion studies. I imagine this project as a footbridge connecting the enormous cliffs of the studies of fashion and cosmetic surgery. Focusing solely on cosmetic procedures of breasts for this case study, I explore how the experience of dressing breasts through bras and clothing can anticipate the decision to undergo a breast reduction or breast augmentation procedure. My analysis includes interviews with three women currently in their twenties who underwent either a breast reduction or breast augmentation operation when they were between the ages of sixteen to twenty years of age. Two of the women underwent breast reduction procedures while still in high school after years of hiding their bodies under layers of baggy clothing. My third subject got breast implants in her early twenties to resolve the uneven size of her breasts and forever end the practice of padding one side of her bra. Their stories exclusively comprise chapter three. Narrative in format, their vignettes describe the dress practices and memorable moments that led to each woman’s operation on her breasts and how she used clothing to negotiate her body both before and after the procedure. Chapter two frames their stories with a cultural history of the bra in western consumer culture. Cultural studies scholar Wendy Burns-Ardolino writes of the intimate connection between bras and the women who wear them, explaining that “...as women wear [foundation garments] they negotiate the meanings of their bodies in the social world; they contribute to both the construction of individual and group subjectivities (2007: 97).” The

 

 

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two women I interviewed who had breast reductions felt that their insecurities about the size of their breasts were exacerbated by their interactions with bras. For example, their quick development of breasts excluded them from a slow progression through bra sizing. Whereas many young women wear training bras and may even pad their bras for a fuller effect, these girls skipped through those stages and were forced to confront their adolescent bodies in adult bras. Both women avoided the shameful acceptance of their bodies by denying the act of wearing an adult sized bra. Instead, they both managed forms of modesty through wearing compressive sports bras and many layers of loose clothing. Along with breast reduction surgery, chapter three addresses its physical inverse, breast augmentation surgery. According to the American Society of cosmetic surgery, breast augmentation (also known as augmentation mammoplasty), “involves using implants to fulfill your desire for fuller breasts or to restore breast volume lost after weight reduction or pregnancy.2” Breast augmentation is possibly the most famous form of cosmetic surgery in American pop culture. Since 2006, it has been the most popular cosmetic procedure amongst women, with a 4% rise from 2010 to 2011.3 Breast implants have the most explicit relationship to fashion. From early corsetry to Victoria’s Secret, women have been augmenting their bosoms for centuries.4 Yet unlike other cosmetic procedures, the materiality of implants themselves requires maintenance. Modern implants are recommended to be replaced every ten years or so. Additionally, it is not uncommon for women to choose to increase or decrease the size of their new implants, depending on the fashionable bust size                                                          2 http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Cosmetic-Procedures/Breast-Augmentation.html  3 http://www.plasticsurgery.org/News-and-Resources.html  4 See Marilyn Yalom’s History of the Breast (1998) for a complete history of the breast in western culture- including a costume history of breast undergarments and the appearance of breast enhancing techniques like falsies, cosmetics, and enlargement surgery.    

 

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at the time of replacement. The decision to undergo breast augmentation surgery can be seen as informed by the everyday wear of bras. Wearing a bra lifts and arranges the breasts to a desired placement and shape on the chest. Breast augmentation surgery serves a similar purpose in lifting and shaping the breasts while often supplementing or detracting from their size. While wearing a bra is temporary, breast augmentation is a lasting way to manipulate the shape of a woman’s body. Or, as fashion historian Susan Vincent writes, “[W]hile a padded bra gets dropped on the bedroom floor, a silicone insert is for life—or at least until the next operation is required (Vincent 2009, 172).” Breast augmentation surgery relieves the padded bra of its performance duties, providing shape through the internal construction of tissue and flesh.

II. Limitations My analysis and argument deliberately exclude procedures performed on parts of the body usually left uncovered by dress. For instance, I will not address rhinoplasty (a nose job), the face lift, or any facial procedure. Although all forms of cosmetic surgery have a shared cultural history, the argument of this thesis applies only to the variety of procedures on the body that have a direct correlation to the wearing of garments (neck to feet). It is beyond the scope of this thesis to address all cosmetic surgery procedures offered to alter the body. Breast augmentation and reduction procedures were chosen due to their popularity and direct correlation to the wearing of clothing. Operations such as liposuction, tummy tucks, implants on the calf or buttocks, and toe reduction would be ideal case studies for further research. I have chosen the cosmetically altered female body as site of analysis, excluding male patients of cosmetic surgery and transgender procedures. According to the American Society

 

 

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of Plastic Surgeons, female patients made up 91% of all cosmetic procedures performed in 20115. And although male patients are on the rise 6% from 2010 to 20116, females still greatly outnumber males as the recipients of cosmetic surgery. Transgender surgery is an important topic but like cosmetic procedures of the face, there are many more issues that must be addressed when approaching transgender surgery than I am able to discuss in this thesis. III. Theoretical Framework My approach, considering the personal relationship between wearing clothing and undergoing cosmetic surgery, is supported by an unlikely source: the blue jean. I find inspiration in two very different works on the subj...