valerie steele the corset a cultural history

Was it constraining? A bit, especially since I'm not a skinny person. In many ways, it is the original 'push-up bra.' The corset does two main things to the wearer - it pushes part of you up and part of you down, creating a smaller 'natural waist' just below the rib cage. The corset is actually put on by buttoning metal enclosures down the front - the laces in back simply allow the garment to be adjusted for better fit. But the results were enlightening.įor starters, there was no gripping of bed posts, no feet to the small of the back as someone pulled strings tight. It was a loaner, so it wasn't a perfect fit. But instances of over-tightened bodices that could do serious damage were the exception, not the rule, Steele wrote.Īs I gear up to do Civil War re-enacting myself, I recently donned my first corset. Doctors expressed concern that such garments posed risks to internal organs. They gave the body a uniform shape day in and day out, allowing clothing to be tailored very specifically to a woman's curves.īut they did restrict movement - as well as deep breathing and anything more than light eating. They were good for posture - it's nearly impossible to stoop in one. But varying shapes of corsets remained in common use until the early 20th century.Ĭorsets were just one element in an overall ensemble of undergarments that at times may have included chemises, pantaloons, petticoats, hoops and bustles.Ĭorsets did have their advantages. Today corsets are most often associated with the 1860s. Corset-like 'stays' were worn at least as early as the Renaissance and remained in common use through the mid-1800s, Steele wrote. Women have long worn some sort of structured undergarment to hold them in and up.

It was a situated practice that meant different things to different people at different times.' 'The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the entire history of fashion,' Valerie Steele wrote in 'The Corset: A Cultural History.' 'Corsetry was not one monolithic, unchanging experience that all unfortunate women experienced before being liberated by feminism. And whether revered or reviled, they were practically a must-have for the 19th-century woman.

Some claim they gave women sexual powers, while others charge they suppressed women in general. They were lauded for shrinking waistlines and condemned for squeezing internal organs. They have been called fashion necessities, yet likened to torture devices.

Valerie steele the corset a cultural history