In Defense of a Controversial Typing: Mae West Before Hollywood and as Herself
"Mae West is only an SD because of her star image" is a very common talking point when discussing Mae West. Looking at Mae's styling during her time as a stage actress and "out of character" is fascinating and to me, very indicative of her being an SD, even at 5'0. She clearly gravitates towards elongated silhouettes and sleek, glamorous details. Even shorter skirts/dresses pull downward. Her flapper era dresses with shorter hemlines still pull downward and lack the generous use of busy, line-breaking details you'd see on Clara Bow's dresses.
The Edwardian dress in picture 2, which is full of line breaks, is not her best look.
Picture 19 shows Mae standing behind a dress form used for her costumes and a dress made by 5'0 SD Saloma, who was verified in Power of Style. Saloma sewed most, if not all of her iconic dresses. The overall silhouette of Mae's dress form doesn't look particularly compact or narrow, and both the dress form and finished dress show elongated curves.
In some discussions, I've seen the rightmost image in picture 20 presented as a smoking gun that Mae West is R fam or a SG. While Mae does look very curvy and snatched, she is heavily corseted, and the line through her torso looks elongated. IMO this would be a lot more apparent if Mae was fully facing the camera. On the left, it looks like Mae isn't wearing a corset, or a looser laced girdle, and her vertical is very clear.
I couldn't fit in everything I wanted to include, so I will be making a part two in a couple of days that discusses her Hollywood era/on-screen outfits.