Ada Valladares

History of corsetry

What is corsetry, and why has it been so demonized for many years? Corsets have been
around for centuries, have functioned very well as an undergarment and also outerwear. So
why is it that they are see as such torture devices? It's time to get into the history of corsets,
where they came from, how they evolved, and why they have such a negative connotation.

First, what is a corset? It is a fitted garment, worn under clothes as underwear but in certain
eras as outerwear too. Before we continue, I must mention that corset is an umbrella term I’ll
use for these types of form fitting garments, however there were also garments called “stays”
“jumps” “waist cinchers” and probably others, which were similar to corsets, basically being a
subcategory. Corsets would support the bosom when women wore them and achieved the
ideal figure of that era for both men and women, though typically leaning more for the usage
of womens fashion, acting as a very supported bra essentially. In short terms it was an item
of clothing usually laced up in some way to fit you perfectly and give the ideal figure of the
time. Victorians and such were masters of illusion when it came to silhouettes so an extreme
figure was very likely just a lot of padding in the right places, and in photos they used what
we like to call Victorian photoshop. You’ll find many pictures of women with “wasp waists”
that seem impossible, but it's most likely “photoshop”. Here is a picture showing where a
photograph was altered.

Corsets were rather comfortable. The working and upper class both used them, and the
working class were doing hard labor in corsets. They were more than capable of movement,
and unless tightlaced, or not properly fitted to your measurements, weren’t harmful. There
were corsets for sports and different activities as well! Making it so that women could
accomplish anything in corsets.
Tightlacing is a phenomenon of lacing your corset very tightly for an extreme appearance. It
wasn’t an often occurrence and it wasn’t the norm to be tightlaced, people needed to move
and work so it wasn't convenient for anyone. If anyone was tightlaced it was by choice.
Another misconception would be the idea that corsets made you faint because of lack of air.
Though it's possible that women were sometimes tight laced to the point of shortness of
breath and fainted, there are many more plausible theories as to why fainting was an
occurrence. It may have been because of overheating, they wore many many layers of
clothing and despite their efforts to make the materials breathable in the hot seasons, it was
still possible to overheat and faint. Another reason could very well have been dehydration,
water was and still is scarce in many countries and it was really easy to be dehydrated.
Dehydration makes you very weak, and in the heat it adds another layer, making it easier for
you to faint. Even now, research says 75 percent of American adults are dehydrated,
drinking only 2 ½ cups of water a day! (I am guilty of accidentally dehydrating myself,
imagine how much more damaging it might be in the heat of summer with no air conditioning
in heavy clothes). There was also a huge fainting culture in the Victorian era, where it was
fashionable or trendy for women to faint, because it meant they were delicate and feminine.
Lastly a corset related viable reason for fainting, could have been quick changes in blood
pressure. Lacing or unlacing your corset really quickly could cause you to have fast changes
in blood pressure making you faint. Which is why dramatically and tightly lacing your corset
is dangerous. Other than that, if you are wearing a fitted corset made for your body, properly
laced, it's quite comfortable in my opinion, and the opinion of many nowadays, as well as the
confirmation that people wore them for centuries. Having sewn multiple historically inspired
corsets for myself, they keep my back straight and help with my posture, as well as making
me feel snug and secure. A good corset will fit you well but still have room to stick your hand
in the side and move it around a bit.

Now to talk about the corset throughout the years, the different silhouettes and materials.
The corset has travelled through history for many years, throughout BCE years up to
victorian, edwardian, modern eras. The first known record of a corset-like garment was worn
by the Minoans around 1000 BCE. found in a sculpture of the Minoan snake goddess as well
as in art of the Minoan era. Then a corset-like garment was found in a tomb in Crete made of
linen and wool. Over the next centuries there would be a few more discoveries of corsets,
until the beginning of the middle ages. Up until the end of the middle ages in around 1400,
corsets weren’t needed because the figure of the era was to be hidden and not accentuated,
so women wore long full coverage dresses. For the 14th and 15the century historians aren't
quite sure if people wore corsets or a similar garment, it's not fully known. However during
the renaissance corsets started to come back into fashion, or more likely, stays. It's very
hard to find whether corsets were more popular or stays because people often use them
interchangeably. However they are different, and from what i've seen in renaissance art the
silhouette is of the classic stays figure. A pair of stays, which is what an individual one is
called, had a different figure. Instead of making people into an hourglass shape, it made you
into a cone shape. Typically seen in the tudor fashion. They were heavily boned and very
structured, but comfortable. (I’ve made my own, Elizabethan inspired) As to whether they
were considered more outerwear or underwear, it's hard to find out. There are cases when
they would wear the stays under their clothes, with a fitted waist coat or dress on top,
sometimes however I believe in later years, they are worn on top of clothes such as a blouse
and dress or skirt more often. And other times, it's as though the garment that goes on top
looks like a pair of stays, but it has sleeves and decorations, so it's not an undergarment in
that case. I believe unlike the corset which went strictly under clothing, stays were more
versatile. The reason they’re called a pair is because of the two sides that are laced
together. They were usually made with heavy linen, with a distinct feature of many boning
channels running down. (Channels: the spaces where they put boning made of whalebone
or wood in this case). Here's a picture of historical stays, and then a replica made in our
modern era.
Now let's skip a few years and move on to the early 19th century. This century would end up
being the craziest century for the corset, changing quite drastically every decade or so. The
first few years of the century the corset was very soft and long causing a less dramatic
silhouette. It looked like this.

Then only a few years after that the figure changed quite drastically as we entered what is
known as the Regency era, 1811-1820. The silhouette for this era was a very high waistline,
right under the bust. A modern take on this figure would be the famous show Bridgerton,
maybe some have seen it and could have a bit of an idea on how different the figure of
desire was now. Here is an example:
Because the waist line was so far up, the corsets didn't need to be long or cinch in the waist
anymore, so they became really short corsets. Instead of being made of hard linen, they
were made of soft cotton. In the regency era these corsets were called stays though. I know
it is very confusing, a lot of the language of this topic was changed throughout the years to
mean different things at the time. So they were called stays at the time. Here are two
examples just to visually understand the difference.

Okay now that we’ve covered Regency lets move to the Victorian era. We covered a little bit
of this earlier but let's talk more about the corset silhouettes. Because Victoria lived so long
this era is very long; it goes from 1837 to 1901. During these years the corset silhouette was
starting to become much more hourglass-like, moving past the super high waistline and back
down to where the actual waist is. Around this time most of the corsets were still made of
cotton, however silk corsets were starting to come into fashion, as well as many other fancy
aspects added to them. Such as their intricate boning, detailed flossing, (embroidery added
to the end of the boning channels to ensure the boning wouldn't come out, making it more
sturdy, but also acting a beautiful decoration), and lace.
The biggest innovation in this era was the busk, specifically a metal busk, which became
extremely useful to put on the corsets. It's basically two metal pieces that click together kind
of like an eye and hook at the front of a corset, making it really easy to put on and then lace
in the back. They’re really fun to work with. I have sewn with them! The most popular were
the spoon busks, here's a picture.

Lastly, let's move to the Edwardian era, my personal favorite, at least in the corset
department. The silhouette of this era, though similar to the Victorian hourglass, changed a
bit into what is called, the “s bend” which was achieved with a corset that pushed your hips
back, and your torso forwards, making you look like an S from the side. Also having a low
bust support, not underbust or overbust, just right in the middle of the bust. The look of
corsets continued on being fancier like in the Victorian era, with flossing and lace, with coutil
and silk fabrics. As well as new colors being introduced, such as the color tea rose pink in
the 1910’s. This is one of my very favorite corsets silhouettes, please admire these pictures
with me.

These two are replicas, and the one below is an authentic s bend corset.
(Before the conclusion I will add a paragraph here about the demonizing of corsets and why
it's unnecessary but I don't have time im sorry. I will add it into my draft later. I will also cite
every photo and website that I used in the final draft)

Corsetry is a very long history of clothing, changing constantly in both vocabulary and
silhouette. It's a very beautiful history in my mind, and I love seeing the different adaptations
and all of the historical fashion that ensued over time. The corset wasn’t a torture device,
women arent stupid and they wouldnt have worn it, worked in it and lived in it for so many
centuries if it really was so horrible.