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Body-Life European Costume

Obviously, the form of costume is depending on the form of human body. This factseparates the art of costume from design and architecture.

Thus, fashion always has been longing for human body’s stylizing in costume. The

form of costume has always been submitting to the human body’s form. Nevertheless, this is also true, that the costume forms are able to create the

“perfect†human body in accordance with the fashionable and cultural standard.�The fashion dress history can be divided into several periods in dependence on coveringor discovering of the form of human body. However, the tendencies of covering or 

discovering, the form of European costume has intended to be body-like. Since XVI

century, the creation of body-like form in costume was the main purpose of the Europeanfashion.

Obviously, that the phenomenon of the body-like costume is connected with the intention

of the people to change their physical appearances in order to be closed to the esthetical

and cultural “ideal†. The natural physical appearance did not satisfy people and�  

they tried to transform it through the costume. We can say that the body-like costume isthe people’s idea about their place and role in a society.

Thus, the intention of people to be closed to the “ideal†is the main reason of the�   body-like costume’s invention. In this case, costume as the fine art realized it’s

function of idealization.

Idealization in costume and in fine arts is an important part of the phenomenon of mimesis. The conception of mimesis was formulated in antique Greece. Accordance to

Aristotle mimesis was the essence of fine art. Later, the phenomenon of mimesis was

considered widely from the simple imitation to an abstract idea.

European costume, as the department of fine arts, has embodied mimesis in body-likeforms of fashionable costume. The theory of body-like costume also considers mimesis

from imitation to abstract ideas of human body. Thus in respect of the phenomenon of mimesis, the body-like European costume itself was the embodying of the idea of â€œperfect†human body in accordance with cultural and esthetical ideal of the�  

human body. As for real human body, under some religious and cultural circumstances, it

has always required for idealizing in the fashionable costume. Due to body-like costume, people could improve their real body to reach the esthetical ideal of beauty. Body-like

costume could hide the real sinful flesh and idealize it through costume.

Certainly, female body most of all was required to be improved through fashionablecostume. Historically, the development of the female body-like costume has been

depended on the function of a woman in a society. During centuries a women have been

 playing a role of a doll, a mannequin. She was to demonstrate her husband’s wealth

and authority. Therefore, the main duty of women through ages was to look magically.To look magically meant to look in accordance with the ideal beauty. Body-like costume

helped women to reach the ideal and it means that body-like costume helped women to

 be a success. For ages to make a carrier for women has meant to get married successfully.In order to be a success, a woman was to suffer. Corsets were the main part of body-like

costume. They transformed her body made a stress for it. Corsets, bodices and crinolines

helped to be beautiful. They made a thin waist, narrow hips and tempting breast.Therefore, woman was ready to suffer, embodying the ideal of beauty.

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The ideal beauty was not a beautiful human body, but the body transformed. Only

transformed body could realize an abstract esthetical scheme of body, called the idea of 

 body. The idea of body is created by society and usually reflects the heart of epoch. Thus,the idea of body is depend on the cultural and esthetical development of society.

For example, the idea of body in Italian renaissance was a strong healthful body. The

Italian body-like costume created special forms that were to lay stress on the sexual power both of women and of man. We can say that Italian body-like costume of 

Renaissance was to stress the flesh. Meanwhile, the Spanish body-like costume tried to

hide the sinful women’s body. Certainly, the difference in body-like costumesdepended on the attitude of society to human body.

For centuries body-like costume have transformed human body in accordance with an

abstract ideas of “perfect†beauty. Only the invention of alternative methods of �  

human body’s transformation has stopped the deformation. Now diets, fitness andesthetical surgery can make the perfect body not it’s illusion.

Besides, modern fashionable costume is not a demonstration of power and wealth, but a

sort of entertainment, just a game. So modern body-like costume don’t transform the

real body but lay stress on it’s perfect forms. We can say that modern body-likecostume release real human body.