The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical pen and ink illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a twenty year period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States. For the vector -based drawing program by Adobe Systems, see Adobe Illustrator. Charles Dana Gibson ( September 14, 1867 &ndash December 23, 1944) was an American graphic artist noted for his creation of the "
The "Gibson Girl" set what some argue as the first national standard for a feminine beauty ideal. For the next two decades, the popularity of this fictional image ushered in a national mania for all things Gibson. There was merchandising of "saucers, ashtrays, tablecloths, pillow covers, chair covers, souvenir spoons, screens, fans, umbrella stands",[1] all bearing her image.
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The Image
The Gibson Girl was tall, slender yet with ample bosom, hips and bottom in the S-curve torso shape achieved by wearing a swan-bill corset. A corset is a Garment worn to mold and shape the Torso into a desired shape for Aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it or The images of her epitomized the late nineteenth and early 20th-century Western preoccupation with statuesque, youthful features, and ephemeral beauty. Her neck was thin and her hair piled high upon her head in the contemporary bouffant, pompadour, and chignon ("waterfall of curls") fashions. A bouffant (buːˈfɑːnt is a type of hairstyle characterized by hair piled high on the head and hanging down on the sides Pompadour is a style of Haircut which takes its name from Madame de Pompadour. A chignon, pronounced "sheen-yon” is a popular type of bun style The tall, narrow-waisted ideal feminine figure was portrayed as multi-faceted, always at ease and fashionable. Gibson depicted her as an equal and sometimes teasing companion to men. [2] Many models posed for Gibson Girl-style illustrations, including Gibson's wife, Irene Langhorne, (who may have been
the original model) and Evelyn Nesbit. (Florence Evelyn Nesbit ( December 25, 1884 &ndash January 17, 1967) was an American artists' model and chorus girl The most famous Gibson Girl was probably the Danish-American stage actress, Camille Clifford, whose towering coiffure and long, elegant gowns wrapped around her hourglass figure and tightly corseted wasp waist defined the style. Camilla Antoinette Clifford ( June 29 1885 &ndash June 28 1971) was a Belgian -born stage actress and the most famous model for the Wasp waist refers to a silhouette given by a style of Corset and Girdle, that has experienced various periods of popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries
Among Gibson Girl illustrators were Howard Chandler Christy whose work celebrating American "beauties" was similar to Gibson's and Harry G. Peter, who was most famous for his art on Wonder Woman comics. Harry G Peter (born March 8, 1880 in California) was a newspaper illustrator and cartoonist long resident in San Francisco.
The Gibson Girl personified beauty, limited independence, personal fulfillment (she was pictured attending college and choosing the best mate, but she was never pictured as part of a suffrage march), and American national prestige. By the outbreak of World War I, changing fashions caused the Gibson Girl to fall from favor. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Women of the World War I era favored a sober, masculine suit (first designed and popularized by Coco Chanel) over the elegant dresses, bustle gowns, shirtwaists, and terraced, shorter skirts favored by the Gibson Girl. Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( August 19, 1883 &ndash January 10, 1971) was a pioneering French Fashion designer For other meanings of Waist see Waist (disambiguation Waist is a common term for the Bodice of a dress
Survival radio
An AAF survival radio transmitter carried by World War II aircraft on over-water operations was named the 'Gibson Girl' because of its 'hour-glass' shape. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including It included a fold-up/down metal frame box kite for which the flying line was an aerial wire. A hand-crank generator provided power for the distress radio signal. When the user was seated in an inflatable life boat, the 'Gibson Girl' shape of the radio allowed it to be held stationary, between the legs and above the knees, while the generator handle was turned. The distress signal, in Morse code, was produced automatically as the handle was turned. [3]
References
Additional Reading
- Martha H. Patterson, Beyond the Gibson Girl: Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915. University of Illinois Press, 2005.
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