Corset
[Categories: Fetish
clothing, Corsetry, Body modification]
A corset is agarment
worn to mold thetorso
into a desired shape for aesthetic
ororthopaedic
purposes . Bothmen
and women
have worn and still wear corsets.
The skill of making corsets 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 most common use of corsets is to slim the
body and make it conform to a fashionable silhouette.
For women this most frequently emphasises 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 minimising 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.
A corset encloses the torso, usually extending
from under the arms
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 below 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).
Corsets are typically constructed of a flexible
material (like cloth
or leather)
stiffened with boning
(also called ribs or stays) inserted into channels
in the cloth or leather. In the Victorian period,
steel
and whalebone
were favored. Plastic
is now the most commonly used material; spring
or spiral steel is preferred for high-quality
corsets. Other materials used for boning include
ivory,
wood,
and cane.
(By contrast, a girdle
is usually made of elasticized
fabric, without boning.)
Corsets are held together by lacing, usually at
the back. Tightening or loosening the lacing produces
corresponding changes in the firmness of the corset.
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, 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 removal method does not work if the corset
is not sufficiently loose, and can potentially
damage the busk). Self-lacing is also incompatible
with tightlacing, which strives for the utmost
possible reduction of the waist. Current tightlacers,
lacking servants, are usually laced by spouses
and partners.
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.
Corsets and waist reduction
By wearing a tightly-laced
corset for extended periods—a practice known as tightlacing—men
and women can learn to tolerate extreme waist constriction and
reduce their natural waist size. Tightlacers usually aim for 40 to
43 centimeter
(16 to 17 inch)
waists. The Guinness
Book of World Records records two instances of women reducing to
15 inch waists: Ethel Granger and Cathie Jung. Other women, such as
Polaire,
also claim to have achieved such reductions.
These are extreme cases. Corsets were and are 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 waists to dimensions that range
from 18 to 24 inches.
Corset comfort
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 womens' 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 movement.
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.
There was a brief revival of the corset in the
late 1940s
and early 1950s,
in the form of the waist cincher. 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 during
these recent revivals cannot really be counted as
corsets at all. While they often feature lacing
and boning,
and generally mimic a historical style of corset,
they have very little effect on the shape of the
wearer's body.
Advantages and disadvantages of corsets
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.)
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.
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.
A badly-fitting corset can chafe, impede digestion,
damage ribs, or pinch nerves.
Two doctors' opinions and advice on corset wearing
can be found at the website of the .
At this same site, Dr. Ann Beaumont, has published
the series "Corseting the Human Body"
References and further reading
Valerie Steele, The Corset: A Cultural History.
Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN 0300099533
Larry Utley, Autumn Carey-Adamme, Fetish Fashion:
Undressing the Corset Green Candy Press, 2002.
ISBN 1931160066
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