The Grecian Bend–Fifth Avenue Style
This image of a fashionable New York woman makes fun of a mid-nineteenth century vogue for bustles–frameworks or padding worn under skirts at the back. Gowns enhanced by these cumbersome additions, when combined with corsets and high-heeled shoes, encouraged the wearer to lean forward and adopt a stance that was known as "The Grecian Bend." A humorous song of 1868 elaborates on the phenomenon:
The ladies wanting something new,
As women are so prone to do,
Wear lofty heels upon the shoe
To give them a Grecian bend.
With foot so short, and heel so high,
They can’t stand plumb if they would try,
And so they think to catch the eye
By means of a Grecian bend.
The ladies wanting something new,
As women are so prone to do,
Wear lofty heels upon the shoe
To give them a Grecian bend.
With foot so short, and heel so high,
They can’t stand plumb if they would try,
And so they think to catch the eye
By means of a Grecian bend.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Grecian Bend–Fifth Avenue Style
- Artist: Thomas B. Worth (American, New York 1834–1917 Staten Island, New York)
- Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
- Date: 1868
- Medium: Hand-colored lithograph
- Dimensions: Sheet: 16 × 12 in. (40.6 × 30.5 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Andrew Bolton, 2026
- Object Number: 2026.37
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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