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No it seems some are a bit ignorant to the fact that some cultures don't put much value in a slimmer figure. I brought it up explaining that being slim is not a good thing necessarily. To me it's more about curves.
So I don't try to be skinny nor do I want to to wear a corset. I would far rather be thick. I was explaining basically why I'd rather not be skinny.
What is this thick of which you speak? I have spoken to a few black ladies and what they define as thick is fat, IMO. I don't recall if OP is black (I think she said she isn't), but I am aware that beauty in people is largely culturally determined. The line between curvaceous and overweight can be a fine one, and the line between overweight but still healthy and overweight and unhealthy is fine as well. Also, views of attractiveness change over time. Consider Venus of Willendorf (pic courtesy of Matthias Kabel, Wikipedia): She is the oldest carving of the female figure known to exist-over 30000 years old. Her body was considered the epitome of beauty in her time; a time when finding food was a difficult task indeed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aquamarin
Talking about real Barbie - Valeria Lukanova, real life Russian Barbie. She has this tiny waist and tall slender body
This woman in post #288 is a real life Barbie all right. Even her face looks fake to me.
Wow - 30 pages on Barbie's unrealistic shape - unreal.
Barbie was designed as a "fashion doll" - that means they made her look like a tiny mannequin to show off the fancy clothes that you could buy for her. I had two Barbies and lot of the pretty clothes for them, as a kid I never ONCE thought about her figure being "proportionate" or not.
OP, you really have a lot of threads about figures and such, and how unhappy you are with yours. In some you say you are curvy, in some you say you are too skinny, you contradict yourself constantly. Why the obsession?
Wow - 30 pages on Barbie's unrealistic shape - unreal.
Barbie was designed as a "fashion doll" - that means they made her look like a tiny mannequin to show off the fancy clothes that you could buy for her. I had two Barbies and lot of the pretty clothes for them, as a kid I never ONCE thought about her figure being "proportionate" or not.
OP, you really have a lot of threads about figures and such, and how unhappy you are with yours. In some you say you are curvy, in some you say you are too skinny, you contradict yourself constantly. Why the obsession?
Do you know what curvy means? It's means anyone with curves compared to their waist.
Most of my posts are about moving and my mom but I'm not going to complain about that in every thread.
I am considered curvy because I have big boobs and a nice butt. But I'm also too skinny as I'm not even sure im 100 lbs I haven't weighed myself in over a month. If I gained weight in the right areas I'd be thick too. That's part of my hang ups. But I'm not obsessed unless I'm also obsessed about moving and my mom too.
Last edited by justawkward11; 01-07-2015 at 09:03 AM..
What is this thick of which you speak? I have spoken to a few black ladies and what they define as thick is fat, IMO. I don't recall if OP is black (I think she said she isn't), but I am aware that beauty in people is largely culturally determined. The line between curvaceous and overweight can be a fine one, and the line between overweight but still healthy and overweight and unhealthy is fine as well. Also, views of attractiveness change over time. Consider Venus of Willendorf (pic courtesy of Matthias Kabel, Wikipedia): She is the oldest carving of the female figure known to exist-over 30000 years old. Her body was considered the epitome of beauty in her time; a time when finding food was a difficult task indeed.
This woman in post #288 is a real life Barbie all right. Even her face looks fake to me.
What is this thick of which you speak? I have spoken to a few black ladies and what they define as thick is fat, IMO. I don't recall if OP is black (I think she said she isn't), but I am aware that beauty in people is largely culturally determined. The line between curvaceous and overweight can be a fine one, and the line between overweight but still healthy and overweight and unhealthy is fine as well. Also, views of attractiveness change over time. Consider Venus of Willendorf (pic courtesy of Matthias Kabel, Wikipedia): She is the oldest carving of the female figure known to exist-over 30000 years old. Her body was considered the epitome of beauty in her time; a time when finding food was a difficult task indeed.
This woman in post #288 is a real life Barbie all right. Even her face looks fake to me.
The word thick is pretty nuanced. It can be "co-opted" like other words. But traditionally speaking a thick figure is pear or hourglass with bigger/more muscular legs and a bigger butt proportionally. Now for example, to stereotype, east Asian cultures would call someone fat if their thighs touch of they have a big butt. Even if they are a small size.
Beyonce, Bria Myles, Melissa Ford, Alicia Keys, and Serena Williams are all "thick." Iggy Azelea is not. It is all about the legs for determining thick or not.
Like the typical lengthy CD thread, there seem to be unnecessary, rather irrelevant and harsh side discussions. Yes, let's say Barbie was mainly a mannequin and not a head-to-toe exercise in realism, but the very narrow waist that's probably the focus of the OP must have been a deliberate, stylistic choice and at a quick glance most people would agree the doll's shape is attractive (obviously that + the pretty face - caricature of a young beauty - drove sales). Interestingly, when I was trying to learn more about corsets - Corsets: Facts & Myths - Isobel Carr - I read that 6" is a common maximum waist reduction from casual wearing of a corset. Furthermore, it looks like Barbie originally came with a few outfits that dated back to corset days. Identifying Barbie Doll Vintage Clothes 1959-1963 . Maybe the narrow waist was partly to allow her to fit into those items, and hence Barbie was designed as a modern/classic beauty doll. And almost all the outfits would have hidden most of the near-stick legs. In conclusion, OP's controversial claim was mostly accurate.
Last edited by goodheathen; 01-07-2015 at 01:07 PM..
I always thought the main reason Barbie's waist is so small in comparison with her hips/bust was because of the difficulties in making doll clothing.
Fabric is the same thickness, whether you're making a pair of pants for an actual woman or for a doll. And when you fold the fabric over to make a waist or a cuff, for example... if the naked doll's waist was more proportional, by the time you got the doll dressed she'd look pregnant or apple-shaped.
Barbie's measurements are as realistic as G.I.Joe. Yet no public uproar is ever mentioned about how 'easy' it is to obtain a six-pack and muscular physique.
If you look at responses among this thread of posters, yeah. Barbie's figure is stylized and doesn't fit the image of todays figure, some women are lucky enough to be blessed genetically.
I have tons of women's vintage clothing, smaller sized women were the norm.
Italian men are tiny.
Italian men in Australia are HUGE.
Why?
At least one generation of Better Diet and More Exercise, that's why.
My mother was a War Baby, just how well nourished dya think SHE was? Everything was rationed!
Yes, it would have seemed strange, because her hips were very narrow. She never could have carried a child in those hips. But the fun of the doll was dressing her with all those outfits, and enjoying the imaginary glamour of it all.
They talked about the experience of wearing corsets and keeping an hourglass figure on the special after Downton Abbey. The clothing is authentic to the time, so the women wear corsets. They described how you couldn't bend or bend over and how you can't breath deeply. The clothes are beautiful, but it was noted that about the time women stopped wearing corsets they also started being more than wives and mothers and started to assume positions of responsibility. But many of them would simply been impossible in the formal, corseted clothes. I can see where the origional barbie shape came from that inspiration.
I had clothes for my Barbies, but would make them clothes too. Even then she seemed oddly shaped. The 'Midge' doll had a more normal one and it was more fun to make her clothes. I would have enjoyed the clothes just as much if she had a Midge shape. I always knew that Barbie looked odd.
The Rennasiance dress did work on her, but then it would have depended on heavy corsets. Then there was the maternity dress . . .
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