The contents of Bouquet romantic novels might still leave something to the imagination, but not so their covers: this is the image of the ‘ideal man’. What does it say about our perceptions?
Cliché image
The popularity of the Bouquet romance took off in the 1980s, with the books selling like hot cakes. Covers played a crucial role in this and became increasingly explicit and over the top. Picture a blond, half-naked Adonis in a passionate embrace with a beautiful woman. The effect is to maximize the cliché image of the active, dominant man and the passive, submissive woman.
Hello Fabio
Joanna Lindsey, one of the best-known authors of that period, made frequent use of covers featuring passionate clinches. The illustrations were done by Elaine Duillo, who introduced the world to the Italian model Fabio Lanzoni. He went on to feature on hundreds of book covers and is thus inextricably linked to the genre. With Lanzoni as the figurehead, Bouquet romances became even more iconic.
Body as object
From paintings and sculptures, to objects and ceramics: the body has been endlessly depicted in art and design. That means objectification is always lurking around the corner. The problem with this is that the body is invariably presented in the form of a white woman. This image comes in turn from another dominant group, the heterosexual white male and the associated male gaze. As a result, the body loses all autonomy and agency and becomes virtually interchangeable.
Greater diversity
Fortunately, the Bouquet novel has undergone a transformation in recent years, in terms of both content and design. There are books, for instance, with interracial and same-gender relationships, written by authors from culturally and sexually diverse backgrounds. As for the heteronormative embrace on the cover, it too has been eagerly reclaimed by others.
Fresh look
Despite the increase in diversity, the body still functions as an object on book covers and in the world of art and design. One intended for the viewer to enjoy beauty and to satisfy sexual desires and passions. But now also to open our eyes to other possibilities, needs and desires.
More
Passion – Love play
The appearance of sex toys tells us a lot about how people felt about lust and gratification at a particular time. About the taboos that might still attach to them. And about the future of sex and the ideals of designers.
Passion – The kiss
Your first kiss. You never forget it. No matter how sweet, sloppy or bad it was. After that, there’s no stopping you: on average you’ll spend 20,000 minutes of your life kissing.
Passion – Perfectible body
Not happy with your body? Then do something about it. That seems to be the credo of our age, with its obsession with perfect bodies. But is the body really so perfectible?
Passion – Romantic fiction
Seven Nights with the Sheikh, A Kiss in the Moonlight, An Heir for the King: the titles of romantic fiction in the world-famous Bouquet series have always appealed to the imagination. Guilty pleasures full of desire, temptation and happy endings are still extremely popular.
Falling in Love – Making it happen
Butterflies in your stomach, unable to eat a thing, constantly daydreaming and checking your phone every five minutes to see if you’ve received a new message: falling in love is magical.
Bonding – Parenthood
For centuries being a mum or dad was not a choice at all, simply how things were ‘supposed to be’. The way parenthood itself is viewed has also changed over the years.
Bonding – Marriage
Only three things are truly important in a marriage: you, your beloved and your love for each other. All the same, there are a lot more factors at play in the background.
Bonding – Family of choice
In addition to their biological family, many people have one they’ve chosen for themselves: people you’re not related to, people who understand, help and love you.
Bonding – The Couple Look
See them whizzing across the city on their fast bikes: his a men’s model, hers a woman’s. Both wrapped in a puffer jacket and with matching trainers. The dreary ‘ANWB couple’ in trendy jackets.
Love, designed
We’ve all grown up with stories and clichés that have unconsciously influenced our image of love. Love, designed explores these stereotypes and shows how design guides the way we both seek and ‘consume’ love.
