Overview
A completely original reappraisal of that most familiar, yet mysterious, of things, the female body.In this endlessly provocative volume, Stephen Bayley, design authority and cultural critic, takes on the female body, analyzing each crook and every curve as a sign, a symbol, and as a designed object. From Aphrodite to the industrialization of the breast, and from pin-ups to the future of sex, WOMAN AS DESIGN is a fascinating mix of design, cultural history, erotica, fashion, and fetishism.
Wonderfully designed and superbly illustrated WOMAN AS DESIGN is a modern study of the continuous conflict between the real and the ideal...in its most familiar form.
Synopsis
A completely original reappraisal of that most familiar, yet mysterious, of things, the female body.
In this endlessly provocative volume, Stephen Bayley, design authority and cultural critic, takes on the female body, analyzing each crook and every curve as a sign, a symbol, and as a designed object. From Aphrodite to the industrialization of the breast, and from pin-ups to the future of sex, WOMAN AS DESIGN is a fascinating mix of design, cultural history, erotica, fashion, and fetishism.
Wonderfully designed and superbly illustrated WOMAN AS DESIGNis a modern study of the continuous conflict between the real and the ideal...in its most familiar form.
Publishers Weekly
From early Greece to 20th century Paris fashion, this book examines women's curves-emphasis on the breasts-as portrayed both explicitly and implicitly in popular culture. The scope is huge, and the connections are often a reach, such as the Volvo car company's 1950s resurrection of name "Amazon" just as women's roles were beginning to shift, an explicit response to the American 1953 Kaiser Dragon Hardtop Sedan ("to project an image of competitiveness and aggression"). Elsewhere, Bayley references Ezekiel the prophet, Aphrodite, the Virgin Mary, and Rousseau in a single paragraph. The multiple links can produce unnecessary, at times breathlessly goofy tangents, such as a comparison between Marilyn Monroe and the '59 Cadillac: "as insanely desirable, as powerfully symbolic, as ridiculous and as ultimately doomed as Monroe herself." Bayley's chattiness can be amusing, but ultimately distracts from the overall effort to chart thousands of years of history. Considering the ambitious scope and high level of research, that's a shame; more clarity and restraint could have elevated this beautiful volume into a classic of cultural history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
From early Greece to 20th century Paris fashion, this book examines women's curves-emphasis on the breasts-as portrayed both explicitly and implicitly in popular culture. The scope is huge, and the connections are often a reach, such as the Volvo car company's 1950s resurrection of name "Amazon" just as women's roles were beginning to shift, an explicit response to the American 1953 Kaiser Dragon Hardtop Sedan ("to project an image of competitiveness and aggression"). Elsewhere, Bayley references Ezekiel the prophet, Aphrodite, the Virgin Mary, and Rousseau in a single paragraph. The multiple links can produce unnecessary, at times breathlessly goofy tangents, such as a comparison between Marilyn Monroe and the '59 Cadillac: "as insanely desirable, as powerfully symbolic, as ridiculous and as ultimately doomed as Monroe herself." Bayley's chattiness can be amusing, but ultimately distracts from the overall effort to chart thousands of years of history. Considering the ambitious scope and high level of research, that's a shame; more clarity and restraint could have elevated this beautiful volume into a classic of cultural history.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.