Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies

Isabelle Marina Held will offer our second author talk on December 3. Her book, Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies, deftly traces how nylon and other technologies moved from wartime use into domestic life. Nylon stockings, plastic foam, and Lycra foundationwear all made what were once military technologies familiar to us through their domestic applications to alter women’s appearance. Held untangles the complex relationships between chemical companies, the Federal Drug Administration, plastic surgeons, advertising agencies, the Hollywood star system, go-go dancers, and fashion and industrial designers who made use of these materials commonplace. Her work draws heavily on the DuPont materials in the Hagley library.

Isabelle Held is the Mellon Foundation Gender and LGBTQ+ History Postdoctoral Fellow at The Center for Women’s History at the New York Historical Society.

Author talks take place in Hagley’s Soda House Auditorium, starting at 7 pm promptly. Please email any questions to Carol Lockman, clockman@Hagley.org.