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Corset – “An article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the torso, whether as an undergarment or as an outer garment” (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The earliest record of the corset was in the Minoan culture 2500BC. Both men and women wore a garment close to our waist cinch to trim and slenderize the waist. This waist cinch mirrored the fighting garments worn as the double headed battle axe was being developed.
Next, we find the corset with the Romans and Pre-Gothic. The shape went to a column and draping fabric off the corset. It was not until the end of the Middle Ages/late Gothic period that the corset started shaping the body again. This was possible due to the new developments in fabric such as buckram, hook and eye closures, metal point,s and re-enforce braided cording (used to lace the corset closed on the body). Most of this was in the garment worn, not a separate piece of clothing.
Not until the Renaissance did the innovative idea of separation of the upper torso from the lower torso was developed, thus making a bodice and a skirt. The bodice starts to turn into what we know today as a corset. The bodice is stiffened in order to support the weight of the skirt section securely.
In the mid 15-17c, Renaissance padded garments became reinforced with iron in bones and flat sheets. Corsets were now firmly established as a part of fashion and worn by almost every female, and even some males. Guilds controlled by men were established, thus reflecting the masculine form and armor vs. the female figure. Everything was stiff and vertical. In the 18c, women entered into the guilds, bringing with them the female shape, more natural curves which emphasized women’s softness, and round contours. The corset changed in construction, with whale bone replacing most of the iron bone, and front and back lacing adding a fuller bust line.
In the 19c, Europe and Britain were at war again, which brought about the Victorian and Edwardian period of a long molded look to the body. Isaac Singer, in 1851, perfected the workable sewing machine. Mass manufacturing was a new concept that caught on in the 1860s. The front busk closure that we use today was designed in 1860 also. Tight lacing did not start until 1875, and ended for the most part in 1890.
Due to the sewing machine, eyelets, the doubling in count of boning, busks, and tight lacing came into vogue. Before that, all clothing was hand sewn and could be pulled tight only so far before the pressure deformed the garment. What ultimately ended the tight lacing was the medical profession demanding in 1890 that women stop this practice. The corsets were moving the insides of women so severely that the livers and kidneys were being punctured by the lower ribs and dying.
Physical fitness in its infancy in 1905 started to change how men and women interacted. Social sports were played together, such as badminton, biking, hiking, etc. The death of Queen Victoria marked the end of the corset era. The fascination ended for the waist and went to the column figure and then to the bust and buttocks. 1914 suffrage and women’s rights “did not want to be harnessed” and looked to the bra, which came out in 1915. The bra was becoming entrenched in public usage. Elastic was developed. The corset changed into the girdle. By the 1930s, latex and two-way stretch fabrics came along with active lifestyles. In the 1940s, nylon and polyester weres invented, and in 1947 Dior designed his “New Look,” the waist cinch corselet.
In 1955, the bustier was born, which was a cross between a bra and girdle for evening wear foundations. In 1959, DuPont launched power net Lycra with spandex, which provided support in garments with extreme move ability. Madonna wore her pink retro satin corset as an outer wear garment in 1980, which challenged “our” concept of public perception of corset usage. Now it was a fashion statement.
The rest you have seen.
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