(courtesy of weheartit.com; other images not mine)
Corsets; whalebone hourglass, metal rigidity, leather fetish. Intended to define and mould the human shape into a perfect silhouette that shifts slightly throughout years of old photographs: narrow waisted models elongate to encompass the entire frame in an 'S'-shape, typical of Edwardian-era suffragettes, worn beneath their purple and green sashes as they chained themselves to railings, to Queen Victoria, an era beforehand. Nowadays, they're bright silk and slithery ribbon and can be bought in cheap red satin at a chainstore lingerie shop, a mainstay of alternative fashions such as steampunk. But once upon a long ago time, it would have been beyond thought that a young woman such as myself would leave the house without its protective encasing squeezing my organs and accentuating my squashed-slim waist -- they were a symbol of femininity, and as such are an interesting footnote in fashion history. They were intensely necessary undergarments of any self respecting lady, after all -- and of some men.
Yes, male corsets were available -- and maternity corsets -- and electric-shock ones, too -- eccentric asides in fashion textbooks, hidden beneath stacks of glossy modern magazines.
A SHORT HISTORY
The earliest corsets, known generally as ‘payre of bodies’ or ‘stays’ were worn around the 1500s-1600s; one feature of them was that in flatterning the bust, they pushed the breasts up into prominent view. There are also records of cage-shaped iron contraptions, an ancestor of the modern corset. According to Wikipedia’s resources, ‘The primary purpose of 18th century stays was to raise and shape the breasts, tighten the midriff, support the back, improve posture to help a woman stand straight, with the shoulders down and back, and only slightly narrow the waist, creating a 'V' shaped upper torso over which the outer garment would be worn. However, 'jumps' of quilted linen were also worn instead of stays for informal situations. Jumps were only partially boned, did little for one's posture, but did add some support.’ But, of course, as an academic, I must frown sceptically at Wiki as being unreliable, yes? Around 1796, Josephine Bonaparte made popular the high-waisted empire-style as a result of her pregnancy – think Austen-era flowing dresses, based on Greco-Roman styles in vogue at a time where no young man’s education was complete without a ‘Grand Tour of Europe’, probably including these classical ruins. Consequently, by 1800, the main purpose of the corset wasn’t to emphasise the waist, but rather, to provide support for the bosom.
Quickly, these became everyday wear for women, and they stayed very similar in style until about 1860. At this point, corsets were strictly undergarments.
TRADITIONAL CORSET
After the 1820s, high Victorian fashion became fashionable, and so the typical hourglass shape of corsets that we recognise today was developed. Lacing the corset as tightly as possible became popular, the corset ending several inches below the waist. Young ladies of repute often had their overworked maids cinch their corsets in so tightly that fainting was common – and so became seen as a sign of delicacy and femininity. Several medical journals at the time wrote articles on the subject, and doctors warned vociferously against this fashion madness – but the Victorians appear to have been great believers in ‘no pain without gain’ and so the lacing and lacing went on. This was the era when mass-producing became commonplace, thanks to that good ol’ Industrial Revolution, and so cheaper, mass-made corsets became available to the general public. Which of course meant more people started wearing them. In the 1890s, a general resistance to this began, in the form of rational dress movements – Oscar Wilde’s wife Constance was known to be a supporter, thanks to her husband’s aesthetical tastes, often being dressed by him for meetings (on one occasion she wore – gasp, stare, faint! – trousers. Smelling salts were called for immediately.)
PREGNANCY CORSETRY
To continue the madness however, fashion soon reached expectant mothers-to-be, and the first ‘yummy mummies’ ended up with these contraptions:
‘SPECIAL FEATURES’
You’ve got to love these: they’re what would happen if you threw Rocky Horror, Frankenstein’s electric life-giving machine and Victoriana into a fashion blender.
MALE CORSETRY
“The men who wear them are, in the first place, the fashionable young fellows around town, who are intent on being known for their handsome figures, and who do everything they can to increase the size of their shoulders and diminish the size of their waist. Outside of these the wearers of them are military men and stout men who find themselves growing too corpulent for gracefulness. Actors often wear them, and among the actors who are addicted to this sort of thing Kyrle Bellow and Herbert Kellsey [two popular actors of the time] are most frequently quoted. These men, it’s said, “secure corsets from a theatrical costumer instead of the fashionable furnishing-goods men on Broadway.”
The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) May 10, 1890
So. Next time you whine about lacing up your fashion corset for that steampunk convention/night out/lingerie party, think of all the other sufferers who have gone before you, and either offer it up or take the damn thing off already!
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