From my Well-Fed Irish Girls collection. At a time when famine was at the forefront of the Irish consciousness, stocky young ladies like Bridget were the height of desirability. Notice how her waist is cinched in, though. She must be finding it hard to breathe!
"Bridget" belongs to my collection of antique (probably late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century) postcards, which I've been scanning and archiving. Since a lot of them are from Ireland, I thought March would be a good time to start. For historical purposes, the backs are pretty interesting too, so under each one I'm also putting up small thumbnails of the obverse side that you can click on to enlarge. If you want to see them all once I'm done, they'll be archived under "Postcards." You also have my permission to use them as long as you credit me (Gail Hapke) and Scribal Terror as the source.
So THAT's where all those potatoes went!
Posted by: iamnot | March 07, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Could be just a shift in perception - we are view molded to the anorexic runway model as the example of beauty aesthetic.
I say "Get some meat on your bones, girl!"
Posted by: MC | March 07, 2008 at 01:43 PM
Given the age of the postcard, and the fact that at the time a good percentage of the population of Ireland had moved over here just a few decades prior, I'm guessing the makers of the postcard rightly decided picturing The Ireland That Was would be a good marketing move.
I just spent several hours last night tracking down all the illustrations and photos of the Famine I could find. And reading several contemporary articles on it. This is definitely an idealizing of The Old Sod.
Posted by: Tracey | March 08, 2008 at 08:53 AM