#it was a way of staying in fashion that didn't involve literally attempting to alter your body to achieve the unachievable

[thebaffledcaptain]

Been thinking about historical beauty standards lately and the fact that being rounder and heavier was, in fact, considered fashionable for a very long time, and then the fact that people will always interject with the “it’s because weight meant you were wealthy and able to afford food and leisure,” which, sure, is true to some extent, but it’s not like… the only reason that was desirable? Like, is it that hard to believe that people genuinely found that beautiful? That both men and women would rogue their cheeks to make them look more lively and full? That men would tailor their waistcoats to give the illusion of a potbelly because it was the fashionable silhouette? That to be soft and plump was considered lovely and attractive? Honestly, I feel people’s insistence on the whole “weight meant you were wealthy” thing can quickly become a kind of backhanded fatphobia, this assertion that being fat meant something else desirable, and thus became the Desirable Thing. People have had fat and been fat all throughout history and been found beautiful for it, period.