HOME / the sex issue: State of the sexual union.

Oh, That Darling DerrièreA history of the buttocks, in pictures (of course).

By Teresa RiordanPosted Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, at 7:31 AM ET

Read more from Slate's Sex Issue.

Click here to launch a slide show.Just last month, unflattering beach photos of Jennifer Lopez's dimpled posterior seemed to have dimmed the fashion focus on the female backside. And isn't it about time to shift elsewhere—to kneecaps or pinky toes, for example? After all, it's been a full decade since designer Alexander McQueen's low-cut jeans ushered in the era of derrière décolletage and the ensuing onslaught of thongs, fanny facials, Brazilian butt lifts, and tramp-stamp tattoos.

But now comes the October 2007 issue of King magazine, with buttock queen Kim Kardashian on the cover. Will she prove the fashion fulcrum for a new wave of buttock accentuation? Click here for a slide show about the art of buttock innovation—past, present, and future.

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Teresa Riordan is the author of Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations That Have Made Us Beautiful.
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