19th Century Corsets

As said in the article Women’s Fashion in the 1800s London,”These were worn under the clothing, bodices with boning on either side and lacing to hold it together. More affluent

The corset was of course associated with high society and was an important signifier of social class. For example in the grand balls that often featured in Victorian novels, a restrictive corset was part of the essential uniform – Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair for example. It also became associated with the ‘dandy’ aesthetic of the late Nineteenth Century (Oscar Wilde being an example) when it was worn by men.

She was the woman who took away the corset and made way for the flattering and flowing silhouette seen in most of the styles during this decade.

The “Inner Corset” by the Laura Fraser is about how people in the United State from 1880 to 1920 start from being heavy to thin. At the beginning the women were sexy if they were heavy and it was a sign that they belong to a rich family that they could afford buying food, but since times goes people ideology start changing. Then society influences the women to be thin which makes them more beautiful, and man would love them more. In the twentieth century the image of thin started changing and the woman were facing some diseases. According to The Inner Corset “When many women ventured out of their homes and away from their strict roles as mothers, they left behind the Plump and reproductive physique, which began to seem old-fashioned next to

Thin elastic webbing Lastex girdles that flattened the abdomen were used instead of corset, and suspender were attached to the girdles.

Women wore underdresses made of linen or flax and woollen overdresses like aprons with straps fastened by decorative brooches. Over the dresses and aprons she wore cloaks or shawls made of wool. Their shoes were made of leather. They had long hair and usually wore scarves.

Imagine a woman rising from bed wearing heavy bedclothes of wool or cotton. Underneath she would be wearing a corset for sleep, made of cotton, wool or a mix of heavy linen. After brushing out long hair, which was rarely washed, she would be wrapped in a light cotton garb that would protect her skin from actually touching her formal corset. Often corsets would stretch from the mid-hip region to the breasts. Corsets were constructed of whalebone and metal stays, which shaped the ribs and stomach to form a fashionable waist of approximately eighteen inches. After the corset was tightly laced (which required assistance of at least one other person), then heavy wool or cotton stocking would be pulled on. Stockings were held up ties, girdle-like bloomers or special buttons in the petticoats. At this time, a woman would put on six to eight petticoats . She would put on a special top to keep the corset from touching her dress. At this point, a woman may have worn a large hoop skirt. The large metal device would allow the woman to keep proper social distance from her guests and potential suitors. Often the woman would have to be lowered into the hoop skirt. If the hoop was too heavy, a woman would be placed in the parlor room and she would remain there until after a dinner party or until such a time she could remove the hoop because it could render her immobile. In some rare cases, small rolling wheels were attached at the bottom of hoop skirts to aid women in moving

Although there are many differences in fashion from era to era the similarities are outstanding. Some of the most repetitive pieces from era to era include corsets, robes, and codpieces. Codpieces were a very fashionable cover for the zipper of men’s pants that the weather men wore to make themselves more presentable. Codpieces are still very popular

In the Victorian era, corsets became longer and became not only about supporting and lifting the breast, but creating a tiny hourglass waist. ‘Women were so tightly corseted that they could not bend over’ but to add to the strain ‘the corset was hung with an extraordinary amount of gear, a combined system of garters and suspenders.’

The Victorian Era depicted a traditional woman. Women were expected to be beautiful but conservative. A notable fashion piece to mention is the notorious corset. Krystal D’Souza states that corsets were meant to, “… accentuate a woman's breasts and hips, while cinching the body at the waist, and dramatically curving the back” (D'Souza). The corset was created to slim the waist and make the hips and bottom larger. This was meant to create the ideal, “Hour glass shape,” women were expected to have. In the Victorian Era, dresses were worn all the time and the skirt length had to be passed the ankles. Pagoda sleeves were essential to dresses to cover shoulders and high necklines were made to cover the women’s neck and décolletage. If the skirts were not touching the floor, skirts were closely worn over the hip and flared out just above the knee. (Joshi). The Victorian Age signifies a time period where women had to follow stringent dress codes. The thought of showing any feminine flesh was un-lady like and unrespectable. (Alchin “Women

- Ribbon corset cinchers tightens from the back with ribbons, like those from the old days, and can be custom designed for your body type, size, and shape. Many prefer the fit on these because it precise, however, ribbons in the back can be difficult to adjust if you live

It is the broadness and smoothness of the fabric that portray this century's clothing style. It could be that the fine pleats of the bliauts were discontinued, and instead, made with full bodied, sheered wool cloth - which hung in large weighty folds. One of the most common garments of the thirteenth century was the cote. Typically, the standard cote consisted of a bodice that was loosely fit, with a belt or mantle synched over the waist. Fashioned with Dolman sleeves that narrowed at the wrist, but was fuller at the upper arm. Although most images do not depict fastenings, it is logical that the garment would have needed to have a loop or a button, or would have possibly been laced up the center back neck, and wrists. Women's cote's were floor length (fig. 18), but if exerting physical labor, they "...adopted a half calf cote or used a belt to raise the skirt above the fashionable length. (173, Payne) Later in the 1200s, cotes sometimes had a split in the front of the skirt, that was easier to tick away for physical activities, such as lawn games and horseback riding. The belt could be decorative or dull, and in some church statues show the cote falling from the shoulder;

Gowns were made of different parts; a bodice, a skirt and sleeves. The bodice was used to cover the body from the shoulders to the waist and was similar to a man’s jerking. Bodices, called vasquina in Spain, were double layered garment that fit tight to the body. The bodice usually had a boat or a scoop neckline. The noblewomen and royals necks were covered with a wide pleated collar which was also used by men.

As the 1900's progressed, women were presented with new inventions which slowly took the place of traditional corsets. With the start of World War I, women began to enter the work-force and many of these women worked as laborers in factories, making daily corset wear a problem. In 1917 the U.S. War Industries board even requested that women stop buying corsets to reduce consumption of metal. Some sources say that up to 28,000 tons of metal was conserved through this effort.

This was modeled after the Virgin Mary whose round belly contained the savior (Yalom, 1997, p. 40). It wasn't until the fourteenth century and the Renaissance that this began to change. Explosive creativity and art occurred despite great famine and disease. As people became more frolicsome, clothing became more revealing. Such clothing including lowering the neckline to show cleavage (Latteire, 1998, p. 31). In the seventeenth century, the breasts once again became the center of female attractiveness over the belly. The breast stood as a symbol of power and wealth at a time when mercantilism was on the rise in Europe (Latteire, 1998, p. 32). The corset, which was previously used to flatten the breasts, was used to push in the stomach and push up the breasts (Winston, Website). Louis XIV of France's personal taste was a factor in this, as he demanded lower necklines for all the court women. He considered it a sign of respect to