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Corsets have been worn in Europe since the 16th century. As Western nations spread over the globe, so did corsets, attaining the peak of their popularity in the late 19th century. Fashion then turned against the corset. They are currently worn only by historical re-enactors, fetishists, and people with medical problems requiring back support.
Just as fashions in clothing changed over the centuries, so too did fashions in corsets.
16th to late 18th centuries
The earliest corsets were called "payre of bodies" and were usually worn with a farthingale that held out the skirts in a stiff cone. The payre of bodies, later called stays, turned the upper torso into a matching cone or cylinder. They had shoulder straps and ended in flaps at the waist. They flattened the bust, and in so doing, pushed the breasts up. The emphasis of the stays was less on the smallness of the waist than on the contrast between the rigid flatness of the bodice front and the curving tops of the breasts peeking over the top of the corset.
Late 18th to early 19th centuries
Stays became much less constricting with the advent of the high-waisted empire style (around 1796) which de-emphasized the natural waist, and so made body-shaping to achieve a narrow waist unnecessary. Some form of stays was still worn by most women (except during the extremes of the late 1790's Parisian high Greek look), but these were often "short stays" (i.e. which did not extend very far below the breasts), and/or without boning, and/or front-fastening. By contrast, corsets intended to exert serious body-shaping force (as in the Victorian era) were "long" (extending down to and beyond the natural waist), laced in back, and stiffened with boning.
Transition to the Victorian
When the waistline returned to its natural position during the 1830s, the corset reappeared. However, it had changed its shape to the hourglass silhouette that is even now considered typical both for corsets and for Victorian fashion. At the same time, the term corset was first used for this garment in English. In the 1830s, the artificially inflated shoulders and skirts made the intervening waist look narrow, even with the corset laced only moderately.
The Victorian corset
When the exaggerated shoulders disappeared, the waist itself had to be cinched tightly in order to achieve the same effect. It is in the 1840s and 1850s that tightlacing is first recorded. It was ordinary fashion taken to an extreme. The Victorian and Edwardian corset differed from the earlier stays in numerous ways. The corset no longer ended at the waist, but flared out and ended several inches below the waist. The corset was exaggeratedly curvaceous rather than funnel-shaped. Spiral steel stays curved with the figure. While many corsets were still sewn by hand to the wearer's measurements, there was also a thriving market in cheaper mass-produced corsets.
The Edwardian corset
The straight-front corset, also known as the swan-bill corset and the S-bend corset, was worn from ca. 1900 to the early 1910s. Its name is derived from the very rigid, straight busk inserted in the center front of the corset. This corset forced the torso forward and made the hips protrude.
The straight-front corset was popularised by Inez Gaches-Sarraute, a corsetiere with a degree in medicine. It was intended to be less injurious to wearers' health than other corsets in that it exerted less pressure on the stomach area. However, any benefits to the stomach were more than counterbalanced by the unnatural posture that it forced upon its wearer.
The corset falls from favor
After about 1908, the small corseted waist slowly started to fall out of fashion. But rigid corsets had the bedst year in 1918 because many the woman get work and mony. In 1919 the rigid corset been replaced by elastic dress. But corsets and girdles final disappear about 1960 of the tights.
See also
External links
- The Antique Corset Gallery
- Lara Corsets & Gowns — Historic Corset Silhouettes
"History of corsets"