All the rage

This volume unbuttons the multi-layered, hundred-year-history of women's lives through fashion and beauty from 1860 to 1960. At the heart of this history is the female body. The century-span between the crinoline and the bikini witnessed more mutations in the ideal western woman's body shape than at any other period. In this detailed account, Virginia Nicholson takes us to the 'Frontline of Beauty' to reveal the power, the pain and the pleasure involved in adorning the female body.