Small Waists and Tiny Feet: The Influence of Fashion on Deformed Skeletal Remains, Even in a Girl from the Wild West

Summary

Fashion depicts many aspects of a person's life; from socioeconomic status to personal taste.  Emmie Baker Scott followed the trends of fashionable dress from childhood to her death in 1885.  Her skeletal remains and clothing reveal her family's emphasis on emulating the upper class and the presentation of an ideal Victorian era female figure.  Born to a doctor, his occupation would have brought wealth and social standing to the family.  Emmie might have been scrutinized with increased pressure to conform to social expectations of her status, resulting in skeletal deformity consistent with body modification from an early age.  This paper will discuss Emmie's skeletal changes and clothing remnants attesting she wore tightly laced corsets and shoes too small for her feet so they would appear diminutive; both desirable traits.  Skeletal changes documenting corseting are rarely reported in the archaeological literature and this paper will address possible reasons for this absence

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017   •
• Scott Cemetery: an Abandoned Early 20th Century Cemetery in Dallas

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 370