There's been a new influx of "back in the 1950s, people liked heavier women" running around Facebook lately, generally debunked so far. But a person claimed that 175 years ago, things were different, and I'm curious about that claim. So what was the ideal women's body type in the US, running from the foundation of the country to the 1850s or so?
As a followup, how did European women's body type standards run during the same period?
One place to look is period fashion plate magazines. An important one is Godey’s Lady’s Book, published in Philadelphia from 1830-1898 by Louis A. Godey. Much of it has been digitized by Hathitrust. In this period body and fashion standards in the US slavishly followed French and English fashions. See, for example, the The Monitor of Fashion (1853-1854), the New York based version of the French Moniteur de la Mode, including the French plates, and gossip on the French fashion scene, translated into English.
By the 19th century you have to be specific about the decade in order to pin down a prevailing fashion. The high waist and clean lines of the Empire/Regency dress--a style that discouraged the wearing of corsets!--favoured slim bodies. The heavier more elaborate styles that followed give the impression of stouter bodies; they also allow for the wearing of corsets and generally disguise the lines of the body. A great book discussing the relationship between body image and art is Anne Hollander, Seeing Through Clothes.