Corset

An ordinary hourglass corset from around 1890. It features a busk fastening at the front and lacing at the back.

A corset is a garment worn to mold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes (either for the duration of wearing it, or with a more lasting effect).

Both men and women are known to wear corsets.

Many garments sold as "corsets" during recent years are not technically corsets in the traditional sense. While modern "corsets" and "corset tops" often feature lacing and/or boning and generally mimic a historical style of corsets, they have very little if any effect on the shape of the wearer's body.

In recent years, the term "corset" has also been borrowed by the fashion industry to refer to tops which, to varying degrees, mimic the look of traditional corsets without actually acting as one; such tops are frequently seen in stores which cater to fans of Gothic fashions. Many such tops feature lacing or boning and are fairly tight-fitting; however, genuine corsets are usually made by a corsetmaker and should ideally be fitted especially for the wearer.

Uses

Custom-fitted overbust corset made by a dressmaker in 2005; worn by female model.

Fashion

The most common and well-known use of corsets is to slim the body and make it conform to a fashionable silhouette. For women this most frequently emphasizes a curvy figure, by reducing the waist, and thereby exaggerating the bust and hips. However, in some periods, corsets have been worn to achieve a tubular straight-up-and-down shape, which involves minimizing the bust and hips.

For men, corsets are more customarily used to slim the figure. However, there was a period from around 1820 to 1835 when an hourglass figure (a small, nipped-in look to the waist) was also desirable for men; this was sometimes achieved by wearing a corset.

An overbust corset encloses the torso, extending from just under the arms to the hips. An underbust corset begins just under the breasts and extends down to the hips. Some corsets extend over the hips and, in very rare instances, reach the knees. A shorter kind of corset, which covers the waist area (from low on the ribs to just above the hips), is called a 'waist cincher'. A corset may also include garters to hold up stockings (alternatively a separate garter belt may be worn for that).

Normally a corset supports the visible dress, and spreads the pressure from large dresses, such as the crinoline and bustle. Sometimes a corset cover is used to protect outer clothes from the corset and to smooth the lines of the corset.

Medical

People with spinal problems (like scoliosis) or internal injuries may have to wear a form of corset in order to immobilize and protect the torso.

Andy Warhol was shot in 1968 and never fully recovered; he had to wear a corset for the rest of his life.

Construction

Corset, Paris, 1905

Corsets are typically constructed of a flexible material (like cloth, particularly coutil, or leather) stiffened with boning (also called ribs or stays) inserted into channels in the cloth or leather. In the 19th century, steel and whalebone were favored for the boning. Featherbone was used as a less expensive substitute for whalebone and was constructed from flattened strips of goose quill woven together with yarn to form a long strip (Doyle, 1997:232). Plastic is now the most commonly used material for lightweight corsets, whereas spring or spiral steel is preferred for stronger corsets. Other materials used for boning include ivory, wood, and cane. (By contrast, a girdle is usually made of elasticized fabric, without boning.)

The craft of corset construction is known as corsetry, as is the general wearing of them. Someone who makes corsets is a corsetier (for a man) or corsetière (for a woman), or sometimes simply a corsetmaker. (The word corsetry is sometimes also used as a collective plural form of corset.)

Corsets are held together by lacing, usually (though not always) at the back. Tightening or loosening the lacing produces corresponding changes in the firmness of the corset. Depending on the desired effect and time period, corsets can be laced from the top down, from the bottom up or two laces were used to lace up from the bottom and down from the top to meet in the middle. It is difficult — although not impossible — for a back-laced corset-wearer to do his or her own lacing. In the Victorian heyday of corsets, a well-to-do woman would be laced by her maid, and a gentleman by his valet. However, many corsets also had a buttoned or hooked front opening called a busk. Once the lacing was adjusted comfortably, it was possible to leave the lacing as adjusted and take the corset on and off using the front opening (this method can potentially damage the busk if the lacing is not significantly loosened beforehand). Self-lacing is also almost impossible with tightlacing, which strives for the utmost possible reduction of the waist. Current tightlacers, lacking servants, are usually laced by spouses and partners.

A healthy straight-front corset and opposite: An unhealthy corset which pushes the abdomen down (because it has only buttons, instead of a busk)

Waist reduction

File:Pipestem corset.gif

Custom-fitted underbust corset, 16 inch waist.

By wearing a tightly-laced corset for extended periods, known as tightlacing, men and women can learn to tolerate extreme waist constriction and eventually reduce their natural waist size. Tightlacers usually aim for 40 to 43 centimeter (16 to 17 inch) waists. Until 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records listed Ethel Granger as having the smallest waist on record at 13". After 1998, the category changed to "smallest waist on a living person" and Cathie Jung took the title with a 15" waist. Other women, such as Polaire, also have achieved such reductions.

These are extreme cases, however. Corsets were and are still usually designed for support, with freedom of body movement an important consideration in their design. Present day corset-wearers usually tighten the corset just enough to reduce their waists by 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches); it is very difficult for a slender woman to achieve as much as 15 centimeters (6 inches), although larger women can do so more easily.

Corset comfort

In the past, a woman's corset was usually worn over a garment called a chemise or shift, a sleeveless low-necked gown made of washable material (usually cotton or linen). It absorbed perspiration and kept the corset and the gown clean. In modern times, an undershirt or corset liner may be worn.

Moderate lacing is not incompatible with vigorous activity. Indeed, during the second half of the nineteenth century, when corset wearing was common, there were sport corsets specifically designed to wear while bicycling, playing tennis, or horseback riding, as well as for maternity wear.

Many people now believe that all corsets are uncomfortable and that wearing them restricted women's lives, citing Victorian literature devoted to sensible or hygienic dress. However, these writings were most apt to protest against the misuse of corsets for tightlacing; they were less vehement against corsets per se. Many reformers recommended "Emancipation bodices", which were essentially tightly-fitted vests, like full-torso corsets without boning. See Victorian dress reform.

Some modern day corset-wearers will testify that corsets can be comfortable, once one is accustomed to wearing them. A properly fitted corset should be comfortable. Women active in the Society for Creative Anachronism and historical reenactment groups commonly wear corsets as part of period costume, without complaint.

Modern history

The corset fell from fashion in the 1920s in Europe and America, replaced by girdles and elastic brassieres, but survived as an article of costume. Originally an item of lingerie, the corset has become a popular item of outerwear in the fetish, BDSM and goth subcultures.

In the fetish and BDSM literature, there is often much emphasis on tightlacing. In this case, the corset may still be underwear rather than outerwear.

There was a brief revival of the corset in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in the form of the waist cincher sometimes called a "waspie". This was used to give the hourglass figure dictated by Christian Dior's 'New Look'. However, use of the waist cincher was restricted to haute couture, and most women continued to use girdles. This revival was brief, as the New Look gave way to a less dramatically-shaped silhouette.

Since the late 1980s, the corset has experienced periodic revivals, which have usually originated in haute couture and which have occasionally trickled through to mainstream fashion. These revivals focus on the corset as an item of outerwear rather than underwear. The strongest of these revivals was seen in the Autumn 2001 fashion collections and coincided with the release of the film Moulin Rouge!, the costumes for which featured many corsets.

The majority of garments sold as "corsets" (or sometimes "corset tops") during these recent revivals cannot really be counted as corsets at all, in the traditional sense of the word, see corselettes. While they often feature lacing and boning and generally mimic a historical style of corsets, they have little or no effect on the shape of the wearer's body; traditional corsets generally require custom fitting by a tailor who specialises in corsetry.

Special types

There are some special types of corsets and corset-like devices which incorporate boning. They are mostly used in BDSM and goth subcultures.

Corset dress

See also: Bondage corset

A corset dress (also known as hobble corset because it produces similar restrictive effects to a hobble skirt) is a long corset. It is like an ordinary corset, but it is long enough to cover the legs, partially or totally. It thus looks like a dress, hence the name. A person wearing a corset dress can have great difficulty sitting down.

Neck corset

Main article: Neck corset

A neck corset is a type of posture collar and not a corset.

Advantages and disadvantages of corsets

A woman putting a corset on. She is wearing a chemise underneath, and the corset has bosom pads.

There are several advantages and disadvantages of wearing a corset.

Advantages

• Corsets can reduce pain and improve function for people with back problems or other muscular/skeletal disorders.
• Some large-breasted women find corsets more comfortable than brassieres, because the weight of the breasts is carried by the whole corset rather than the brassiere's shoulder straps. (Straps can chafe or cut the skin.) However, if a bra is properly fitted, the weight of the breasts is carried by the band and not by the shoulders, thus eliminating this problem for even women with very large breasts .
• Some corset-wearers enjoy the feeling of being "hugged" by the corset.
• Corsets can instantly 'improve' the figure without dieting, slimming drugs, or cosmetic surgery.
• Due to their tightness and close proximity to the body, corsets can make the wearer feel very warm. They have been most often worn in cool climates.

Disadvantages

• The best corsets are custom made and personally fitted. The more closely clothing or lingerie clings to the body, the more carefully it must be fitted to look and feel right. In modern times, when labour costs much more than materials, custom clothing can be extremely expensive. Even finding a competent corsetiere can be difficult.
• Over-tightened corset can:
  • Chafe.
  • Restrict breathing and thus cause severly reduced oxygen supply.
  • Impede digestion.
  • Damage ribs.
  • Pinch nerves.
• A badly-fitting corset can (in childhood):
  • Deform the stomach.
  • Deform the liver.
• After wearing corsets over a long period of time, the lower ribs (floating ribs) become deformed and are pushed inwards (especially in children who are still developing). This can lead to organ failure, dehydration, or broken ribs.

Corsets in fiction

• Moulin Rouge! — several costumes featuring corsets as characteristic of the era.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) almost suffocates from wearing a tight corset.
• Star Trek: Voyager — catsuits Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) worn throughout her term contained built in corsets.
• Underworld — Selene (Kate Beckinsale) wears a black leather corset over matching latex catsuit.

References and further reading

• Doyle, R. "Waisted Efforts, A Illustrated Guide To Corset Making". Sartorial Press Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-9683039-0-0
• Valerie Steele, The Corset: A Cultural History. Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-300-09953-3
• Larry Utley, Autumn Carey-Adamme, Fetish Fashion: Undressing the Corset Green Candy Press, 2002. ISBN 1-931160-06-6
• Norah Waugh, Corsets and Crinolines. Routledge (December 1, 1990), ISBN 0-87830-526-2
• Category:Corset
• Categorie:Corset

See also

• Basque
• Bondage corset
• Bustier
• Corsetmaker
• Corsage (bodice)
• Fainting room
• Fetish clothing
• Girdle
• History of corsets
• Hourglass corset
• Neck corset
• Redresseur corset
• Ribbon Corset
• Spirella
• Spoon busk
• Tightlacer
• Tightlacing
• Wasp waist

External links

• Overview of the corset
• Long Island Staylace Association-Laced Corsetry & Stays Site It is a support site for corsetry enthusiasts, but many information.
• Selection of 19th and early 20th century texts about corsets
• The Secret History of the Corset and Crinoline A seminar by the Victoria and Albert Museum