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Polaire was a world famous Edwardian actress known for many things - for being "The Ugliest Woman in the World", having a nose ring, and also for having "The Smallest Waist in the World". Yep - her waist was recorded as being a whopping 14 inches during performances and under 17 for her normal day to day life. By Victorian and Edwardian social standards, she was a freak, and yet, it's her photos that are shared time and time again on the internet whenever people talk about Victorian and Edwardian corset practices, tight-lacing, and wasp waists. We no longer know who she is, but we still see photos of her all the time.

It's my fascination with her, her history, her shenanigans (cause y'all she was weird and also incredibly problematic), and her waist that made me want to make this video. So I hope you'll enjoy learning a bit about this fascinating French actress with a weird history and a wasp-waist that the Kardashians could only dream of.

Thanks to @NamiSparrow for her feedback and contribution to the Nose Ring & Cultural Appropriation chapter of this video. ❤

Sources:
DURBACH, NADJA. “‘Skinless Wonders’: ‘Body Worlds’ and the Victorian Freak Show.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
 69, no. 1 (2014): 38–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24631756.

Durbach, Nadja. Spectacle of Deformity : Freak Shows and Modern British Culture
. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. Accessed April 29, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Buy it here: [https://amzn.to/3ADPw0Z](https://amzn.to/3ADPw0Z) (affiliate)

Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets (Chapter 2 is about Freak Shows specifically and features Nadja Durbach) (https://www.audible.com/pd/Stephen-Fr...)

Scrapbook. Corset. Compiled by Bennett 1/82 Gift by Berlingen, Kinsey Institute, Indiana University. Visited Feb. 15, 2023

Newspaper Articles via ProQuest Historical Newspapers

The Tatler, The Sketch, The Bystander, and other British Periodicals via ProQuest British Periodicals

Throwback Polaire website including Comic Sans and Papyrus font (10/10 nostalgia) [http://www.polaire-1900.com/](http://www.polaire-1900.com/)

Chapters:

00:00 - 06:42 - Polaire's Early Career
06:43 - 10:00 - Polaire's Antics (Funny)
10:01 - 12:18 - Problematic Polaire Pt 1
12:19 - 14:42 - Freak Shows
14:43 - 19:11 - The Ugliest Woman in the World
19:12 - 22:38 - Problematic Polaire Pt. 2
22:39 - 29:30 - The Smallest Waist in the World!



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