By Hayley Maitland. By Stephanie Coffua. By Radhika Seth. Gallery 8 Photos. View Gallery. Read More. Fashion Fashion Trends Fashion History. In the s, in addition to slimming the waist and emphasizing the chest, corsets also aimed to improve posture. The figure that corsets of this time encouraged was that of a very rigid posture and a high chest. To accomplish such an erect posture, corsets had shoulder straps attached which would force the shoulders backward so far that the shoulder blades would touch!
At the end of the century, Greek and Roman style fashions became popular for women. However, these trends were short-lived and were ushered out by the Romantic style of the s.
After the brief lapse at the beginning of the century, corsets were revived in full force for the remainder of the s. Compared to previous decades, the structure of 19 th century corsets emphasized a more natural, hourglass shape, and were more focused on shrinking the waist than previous corsets had been.
This was especially damaging to women internally as was discovered towards the end of the century. Additionally, it was during this period in the middle of the century when the desire to contrast full skirts and a small waist using a corset was at its peak. A new corset that separates the breasts is patented in France.
The corset remains long, extending over the hips. The waistline is at its lowest point in two decades, resting at the natural waist. The small waist and hourglass figure remain desirable. The waist drops below its natural position. The front-fastening busk increases the ease of wearing a corset and is widely adopted from the s onward. The corset begins to shorten at the sides and lengthen at the center front.
Corset construction changes, as the patterns are created out of shaped pieces rather than being shaped with gussets. The skirt tightens at the hip, creating a long, slim silhouette. The corset pushes the breasts forward while accentuating the natural waist and hugging the hips.
An S-bend shape is created, with the torso held straight in the front and the hips pushed back. The S-bend shape is further exaggerated, and the wasp waist becomes extreme. Decorative suspenders for stockings are attached to the corset at the center front and side back. By the corset extends from under the bust down to the middle of the thigh, its longest point in history.
And when you're having to pick up heavy buckets of water, or bending and moving heavy objects [the support of the corset] is really helpful," Woodyard tells me. Beyond fitted, tight, or anywhere in between — corsetry has a long history that stretches far beyond our current assumptions. Manipulating the body through the use of undergarments stretches back as far as antiquity, when Minoan women from the island of Crete bound their breasts with a band of soft leather, called apodesmos.
But with the apodesmos, the body still performed an important role in shaping the clothes that wrapped around it. As French historian Georges Duby wrote in his book L'Europe au Moyen Age , the frills and ornamentation associated with that era "disguise the body, enveloping it in unreality, masking the attributes of men and women alike.
According to Dr. Joan Evans in her book Fashion in Underwear: From Babylon to Bikini Briefs , in medieval times, the word denoted some kind of cloak for, ironically, men. It wasn't until the turn of the 19th century that "corset" was used to describe the controversial undergarment it was instead referred to as "stays". Nonetheless, the earliest form of the corset wasn't even an undergarment.
It first appears in the s to describe a soft, fitted bodice that nipped in the waist and was worn over a linen shift. This basic form was used as a blueprint for shaping the Western female body with varying versions of the corset over the centuries, from the inflexibly stiff stays in the eighteenth century, to the shapewear that exists today. However, during the Age of Enlightenment, intellectuals began questioning the corset and its artifice, arguing that the corset was, at best, the physical embodiment of censorship, and, at worst, a way of deforming and destroying the natural body.
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