Corset Research Paper

Clothing was also an important part in men's lives. The Sumptuary laws implied to not only the women, but to the men too. Men also wore many layers, some similar to the women. According to Linda Alchin, "The fashions were designed to give the impression of a small waist-especially desired by the women but also emulated by men" (Elizabethan Upper Class Fashion). They wore most of the following under layers: a shirt, stockings, a codpiece, and a corset. Then, most of the following over layers: a doublet, separate sleeves, breeches, a belt, a ruff, a cloak, and boots or flat shoes. Men's clothing fashions were related to those of women's due to the similar, and many layers.

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.

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

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

Source C clearly doesn’t support source B and this is proven at the start of the Gwen’s entry when she express her anger toward the way they had to dress; “The thought of the discomfort, restraint and pain which we had to endure form our clothes makes me even angrier now than it did”. It is very evident that Mrs Raverat didn’t agree that wearing a corset was an invigorating experience for the whole system.

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;

Corsets originated in France as early as the 16th and 17th centuries worn by men and women of the higher class during the Victorian era. Most middle and upper class women continued to compete

Men and Women’s clothes portrayed ranking in society. Wealthier people had more elegant clothes than others. Women usually tried to look like men when they wore outfits with big shoulders, wide hips, and a small waist. A woman's age also influenced what she wore. They wore two piece dresses, which was constructed of many individual parts to it. “The well to do Elizabethan woman might have looked something like this: make up base of white of lead and sulfur, various dyes on the cheeks, beauty spots drawn on, eyebrows plucked thin, lips thickly lipsticked, hair powered pinned and perfumed.” (Tomecek, Jan) These individual parts of the dresses that the women would wear included the bodice, partlet, sleeves, ruffs, kirtle and bumroll. Women usually always had their hair pulled back from their face and wore it in many different styles. Men’s clothes during this period included doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and

popular and then in the 1950’s to 1981 thinness came back with corsets and tight waists with full

…it must prevent her doing many things which women of that sort, to do them justice, really enjoy doing”.6 The skirts were so impractical for what was going in British society during that time.

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.

Waist training corsets are used by women all around the world with the purpose of making their waist look smaller and belly look thinner. They can be found in different sizes and shapes, being manufactured from all types of materials. This makes choosing the right cincher quite difficult. Therefore, choose the inexpensive Imilan Women Sport Latex Steel Boned Corsets that you will not regret buying. They are expertly crafted with high quality material and are very comfortable.

CORSET diet (Waist Training) does not require too much effort, and produces excellent results. Wearing a corset only a few hours a day will improve the effectiveness of training and help you to get rid of fat in the abdomen.

A reoccurring feature in 20th century fashion was how the shape of the female body looked. Trying to find different, innovative ways of manipulating and displaying the curvature of the body. Between 1900 and about 1907 has become an extension of the late 19th century for fashion. Women were still wearing constraining, tightly laced, whalebone corsets to exaggerate the shape of the female torso as it was very admirable to have a well-rounded figure.

Women have been wearing body shaping undergarments for centuries. Modern day body shapers which are sometimes called spanx, were not introduced until the year 2000. Before there were spanx, there were girdles and corsets. The first girdles were woven garments that looked like belts. Girdles were used to shape, reinforce and strengthen the body. The corsets came about around the sixteenth century which were created with animal bones and then later steel rods. The corsets were tightened by pulling the laces in the back until the desired hour glass shape was created to the women’s waist. Wearing a corset can also change the bust line, by raising the breasts upwards and shaping them, flattening the stomach, and improving posture. Indeed, excessive corset wearing has been claimed to weaken certain muscles, making it more difficult to maintain posture without a corset. The tightening caused restriction to the organs, especially the lungs causing