According to the dress reform literature, the ''natural waist'' of woman was that of the Venus de Milo, which varied, according to source, between 26 and 30 inches. The consensus was that in the ''average fashionable waist'' this figure was reduced by about 6 inches. Critics tended to regard any reduction beyond 3 inches as dangerous; the greatest recorded in the dress reform literature was 15 inches (Dr. Dio Lewis quoted in Knowledge 29 December 1882).
In 1866 typical reformist opinion found ''most'' women lacing down to 24, ''tens of thousands'' down to 22, and ''many'' down to ''21 and even 20'' (Cooley, p. 351-6). By 1882 the ''ideal fashionable waist size'' was set, by a moderate reformer, at that of an athletic man's neck (Treves, p. 13f.). The physicians very rarely cite individual examples.
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