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American Morning
At the Met: Xtreme Beauty, The Body Transformed
Aired January 18, 2002 - 08:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, here's a question for you. When you get dressed in the morning, do you focus on putting on some garments that will, well, for want of a better phrase, change your shape? Well, over the years, some people and some cultures have gone to some extremes.
CNN's Jeanne Moos makes "The Moost Of It" from head to toes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before liposuction and breast implants, there were padded stockings for the guy whose calves were too skinny. A 16-inch iron corset for the lady who wasn't skinny enough, and adult shoes that are the size of a toddler's.
HAROLD KODA, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: The foot was reduced to a three-inch length by compressing the heel of the foot to the front pad of the foot.
MOOS: What we wear doesn't just cover us, it can reshape us.
HATTIE MCDANIEL, ACTRESS, "GONE WITH THE WIND": Just hold on. And suck in.
MOOS: From our waist to our walk.
KODA: Think about Marilyn Monroe in her high heel shoes. You know, her churning buttocks and just sort of tottering along.
MOOS: Churn she did in "SOME LIKE IT HOT."
(on camera): Did you guys see, this is a corset for a guy?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Oh.
MOOS (voice-over): Actually, a modern-day corset maker, know as Mr. Pearl, made it for himself, not unlike tribesmen who wear bark and rattan belts.
KODA: By cinching in the waist, I'll create the sense of a bigger chest line.
MOOS: Modern designers can change your silhouette with an inflatable dress, or Thierry Mugler threads that have more in common with tread.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like you got run over by a car.
MOOS (on camera): Or, you know, if you had a flat, you could just take off your dress.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't see anybody wearing these things.
MOOS: Any of this stuff?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like another planet.
MOOS (voice-over): That's why they call it "Xtreme Beauty, The Body Transformed." Now on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute. The galleries are organized into body parts.
For instance --
KODA: Hips and buttocks.
MOOS: Where you'll find a structure worn under an 18th century dress to give it a certain aristocratic width.
(on camera): But how do you get through the door?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you probably have to...(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
MOOS (voice-over): Maybe you thought "Playboy" invented the bunny outfit. Tell that to the African Mongo people who wore this belt and ball with nothing else. And these brass Burmese neck rings create the impression of a elongated neck.
KODA: The neck rings weigh down and then deform the collarbone so it's diverted to a 45-degree angle downward.
MOOS: And talk about elongated. The men in New Guinea make a public display of their privates.
KODA: I think what's fun is the fact that there's a fur tip. I think that's a nice touch.
MOOS (on camera): What's that all about? Fuzzy.
KODA: A warm cuddly thing, I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You'd have to hook this to your chest to be able to walk.
MOOS (voice-over): Speaking of walking, imagine walking in these. Lotus shoes worn by Chinese women who had their feet bound for several years when they were kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, these are spooky.
MOOS: Foot-binding was banned after a thousand years of mangled feet. At the opposite end of the spectrum is this shoe with toes by Pierre Cardin. We thought modern platform shoes were bad until we saw these 16th Century Chopins worn by aristocratic women in Venice.
KODA: Always with an attendant, because you needed someone to support you.
MOOS: The idea was to elevate the aristocrat above everyone else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that all part of what they walked on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a man's shoe or...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole thing? Mama mia!
MOOS: We have a name for shoes like these: Stilts!
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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