The Bustle and the Stolen Silhouette

Send us Fan Mail This episode explores the complex historical and cultural intersection between Victorian bustle and the Black female body, specifically examining how European fashion engineered a silhouette previously pathologized in African women like Sarah Baartman. While no direct proof exists that dressmakers intentionally copied Baartman, the argument is that Western culture commodified and celebrated an exaggerated posterior as high fashion for white women while simultaneously dehumani...