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Everything You Know About Corsets Is False
By Lisa Hix
The corset has a bad reputation. And unfairly so, according to Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, who says this undergarment of centuries past is not nearly as evil or confining as modern folks have come to believe.
With the Edwardian Balls just around the corner, we started ogling gorgeous antique corsets on Collectors Weekly Hall of Fame site, The Antique Corset Gallery, including this 1895 pink-and-black Y&N corset (right). Then, we asked Steele, the author of “The Corset: A Cultural History,” to set the record straight about this much-maligned piece of fashion history. Here are her top three misunderstood facts about corsets:
1. Thirteen-inch waists are a thing of myths.
Even though so-called “tight-lacing” was popular during the late 1800s, women rarely reduced their waists more than 1-2 inches. Generally, a corset with a 20-inch waist would be worn with a gap in the back, so the woman’s corseted waist measured between 22 and 26 inches. Where did these tales of ladies of the court and their obscenely tiny 13-inch waists come from? Fetish fantasy literature of the era.
“A lot of people believe in the 16-inch waist being typical when, of course, most corsets were no smaller than in the 20s,” Steele says. “Most people would reduce to a couple of inches. You can reduce it 4 inches or so, but most women were not going to be doing any more than that.”
2. Corsets did not create misshapen livers or life-threatening diseases.
A long corset made by CK in Belgium, circa 1890. From the collection of L. Hidic, corsetsandcrinolines.com, via The Antique Corset Gallery.
Over the years, corsets have been credited with causing a whole litany of health problems. It’s been said that they misshape internal organs and cause cancer. Other illnesses attributed to corsets were fake, sexist conditions, like “hysteria.” There’s also no record of a woman having a rib surgically removed so she could better fit into a corset, which is a particularly absurd myth, given how deadly surgery was in the 1800s.
Of course, they weren’t exactly the healthiest things to wear every day, either. They did force organs to shift around, cause indigestion and constipation, and eventually weakened back muscles. And they didn’t leave a lot room for pregnant women’s fetus-incubating bellies. But deadly they were not. They also didn’t prevent women from doing their work—any more than, say, stiletto heels do.
“Most people today think corsets were extremely dangerous and caused all kinds of health problems, from cancer to scoliosis,” Steele says. “And that’s quite inaccurate. Most of the diseases that have been credited to corsets, in fact, had other causes. Corsets did not cause scoliosis, the crushing of the liver, cancer, or tuberculosis. It doesn’t mean that corsets were without any health problems, but it does mean that most modern people are wildly naive in believing the most absurd antiquated medical accusations about corsetry.
“For example, the idea of the misshapen liver seems to be a mistake based on the fact that there is a lot of variation in the shape of livers. When doctors did autopsies, they would see these weird-looking livers and they’d go, ‘That was caused by the corset.’”
3. Men did not force women into corsets.
Madame Lemay silk damask corset, circa 1901. From the collection of M. Talkington, laceembrace.com, via The Antique Corset Gallery.
Steele says women wore corsets quite on their own volition. Men, in fact, regularly protested corsets, claiming they caused hysteria and the other health problems mentioned above. Women wore the corset because it made them feel attractive and properly dressed, she says, two important indicators of status. However, they were intended to reshape the natural body to what women perceived as the most ideal figure—meaning the most youthful and sexually desirable. Men might not have oppressed women by demanding they wear corsets, but women certainly wore them to impress men and assert their rank among other women.
“The corset was associated with high status and with respectability, indicating you’re not loose,” Steele says. “Also, it enhances the sexually dimorphic curves of the female body. It acts like a proto-Wonderbra and also emphasizes the waist-hip differential, which makes you look younger, slimmer, and curvier—which is still what everybody wants. But now women get on a StairMaster or get plastic surgery instead of putting on a corset.”
A hand-made cone-shaped stay corset from circa 1786. From the collection of K. Augusta, antique-fashion.com, via The Antique Corset Gallery.
In early 16th century Europe, corsets called “payre of bodies” pushed the breasts upward and shaped the torso into a slim cylinder, thanks to boning made of horn, buckram or whalebone, and a flat wooden “busk” running down the center. But by the 17th century, corsets took on more of a cone-like shape, often made of two separate pieces of boned fabric known as stays, held together in the front with the busk. For a brief time, from 1800 to 1830, the Napoleonic high “empire waist” look freed bellies from the confines of waist-constricting stays, as corsets became smaller and closer to modern-day bras.
The Victorian Era revived the desire for wasp waists and hourglass silhouettes, and so corsets, now extending below the waist and incorporating steel boning, created that shape. Curves were further exaggerated with big shoulders in blouses, and huge hoop skirts over layers of crinoline. Also, new manufacturing technology allowed for affordable mass-produced corsets, which had previously been custom-made to a woman’s measurements.
This illustration from a 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal shows the change from Victorian to Edwardian silhouettes.
The Edwardian period hailed a whole new corset shape. This decade at the turn-of-the-century (1901-1910) represented a tremendous time of transition in fashion, as the elaborate getups of the Victorian Era got a bit more ridiculous, and then fell out of style all together.
A corsetier with an M.D., Inès Gaches-Sarraute, came up with the straight-front corset—also known as the “swan-bill,” “S-line,” or “S-bend” corsets—which he believed kept the pressure off a woman’s stomach. But these corsets forced women to tilt awkwardly, hips back, breasts forward, and created an exaggerated S-shape in the back. Of course, these were probably much worse for one’s health, putting all sorts of strain on the spine by forcing such an awkward posture. But if a woman were to dress as an authentic Edwardian, this is the sort of corset she’d wear.
Bianca Lyons in typical Edwardian dress, circa 1902. Image from the U.S. Library of Congress, copyright E. Chickering.
Between 1908 and 1914, fashion favored a more natural shape, but corsets got even bigger and more complicated, extending down to the thigh and creating a higher waist.
An early 1910s longline corset made from bow patterned pink brocade. From the collection of L. Hidic, corsetsandcrinolines.com, via The Antique Corset Gallery.
“You’re getting a shift away from what high Victorian and Edwardian fashion writers described as ‘the Venus ideal’ and a movement towards ‘the Diana ideal,’ which was slimmer and more athletic,” Steele says. “So increasingly, people started to say that they didn’t need to wear a corset, that their body was already ideal. Often, when you read old interviews, actresses will say, ‘I don’t need to wear a corset,’ but you look at their photograph and you go, ‘Babe, you are so wearing a corset.’”
In the 1910s and 1920s, as women became more interested in sports and clothes that allowed for a greater freedom of movement, the socially desirable silhouette changed to a thinner, more streamlined figure. New elastics allowed for shaping undergarments that narrowed the hips without the use of steel boning.
“By the 1910s, the tango had become trendy,” Steele says. “If you had a boned corset, your movements weren’t right, so people would wear these boneless tango corsets, which are just long elasticized girdles. And there began to be a gradual movement towards dieting and exercise as the way to control the way your body looks. By the ’20s, of course, your clothes were showing more of your body. You couldn’t hide behind corsetry so much anymore.”
While these new hip-controlling girdles and breast-supporting brassieres became the order of the day, corsets made a comeback briefly in the late 1930s—after World War II interrupted fashion, they returned again for Dior’s New Look, which emphasized small waists, full busts, and big flowing skirts. They went out of fashion again when ’60s mod style brought back the short skirts and girlish figure of the ’20s and the hippie movement embraced more natural body shapes.
“When you read old interviews, actresses will say, ‘I don’t need to wear a corset,’ but you look at their photograph and you go, ‘Babe, you are so wearing a corset.’”
Up until the punk movement of the ’70s, corsets were strictly undergarments, never intended to be worn in public. In their quest to be shocking, punks started wearing old-fashioned lingerie as outerwear. Haute couture designers like Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier quickly put this brazenly sexy look, drawn from the bondage porn of early decades, on the runway. Then, in the ’80s, mega pop stars like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna brought it to mainstream America.
Ever an object of fascination and debate, the corset will make its way out of the closet in the coming weeks, as the Edwardian Ball hits San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom on Jan. 20 and 21 and Los Angeles this spring, date and location to be announced. These events are a fantastical and Halloweeny celebration of macabre mid-century illustrator Edward Gorey, as well as of the fashions of the Edwardians.
This year, Edwardian Ball goers will surely see plenty of outerwear corsets at the events, where people let their imaginations run wild a la Burning Man and mine countercultures like goth, bondage, and steampunk for inspiration. But for ladies who value historically accuracy, the swan-bill corsets will be worn more discreetly under the layers of lace, ruffles, and ribbons of their gorgeous period-perfect gowns.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It seems like every publication about corsets is so badly tainted with these false ideas about how dangerous they are that there’s hardly any real information in them. It’s so nice to see a well written article about this. I do disagree with the part about the Edwardian corsets. Edwardian corsets apply pressure to the body in a different way, but they in no way force the body into that arched back posture. Somebody did there own study about it on FoundationsRevealed.com and basically came to the conclusion (and I agree from my own studies) that while the pictures from that era show a lot of this posture, it was just the fashionable posture that was used for pictures. Nobody went about their day to day life trying to hold that absurd posture. It’s like following the fashionable facial expressions for photography, early photos are all frowns, but nowadays we smile for the camera.
In addition to all of the myths you so wonderfully refuted, I’ve heard people claim that Edwardian corsets actually distort the figure into that extreme pigeon-chested shape! I’m guessing they came to this conclusion by looking at illustrations from the time. I did a little happy dance the first time I came across adds for Edwardian era bust enhancers, I’m sure women have been coming up with ingenious ways of padding their “bras” since they’ve had the support garments to “pad”.
It has been my experience that no woman (laced up by me!) has ever complained about being uncomfortable. Quite the opposite! I can hardly get them to take the corset off!
Thank you so much for this article!
The corset is an invention of Roxey Ann[a] Caplin. The corset was first widely used after 1851. Before 1851 woman used pair of stays, which hung down on the shoulders. Corset was a reform dress with free moveable shoulders.
Thirteen-inch waists are not a thing of myths. A pattern of 13 inches in the waist is 33.02 cm + 10%/12% stretch + lacing (about a inches) + bones and fabric thickness (c. 0,7cm +c. 0,7cm +c. 0,7cm +c. 0,7cm)= c. 41.6 cm = about 17 inch. Corsetmaker pattern goal of the corset is not the same as the lady’s waist circumference outside of the corset.
The corsetmakers tell as some corsets do create misshapen livers or life-threatening diseases. It requires anatomical knowledge to make tight corsets. Not everyone has this knowledge.
I wear corsets to work almost every day. The only problem i have ever had with a corset is it not being big enough for my breasts, and crushing them in part while another part spills over. I actually wear the corset because of back pain that i get- conveniently i do not have back pain when i wear the corset. Hurrah!
Thank you so much! I have always loved wearing corsets and have hated the bad press. Hell, I would wear more corsets if they weren’t so expensive! They have helped my back feel better and I love they way I look in them. So thank you again for throwing light on a subject so many just don’t have all the information on.
It’s nice to see someone supporting corsets out there! We often get asked many questions about the health an safety of corsets when people come to see us in our shop. Hopefully with this you are able to spread the information more widely and people will become more acceptable to the corset again. Yeay!! I have even linked it off my website http://www.corset.ie to help. Many thanks.
i am male 38, i do wearing corset. actually that is girdle, but people in my country call it corset. i love being corseted because it can hold my stomach and i feel much more comfortable in my corset. i really want to have a real corset but i think i cant afford because of the price.
Debunking myths about women and body image is always a pleasure to read!
Peter, you’re misrepresenting things. A pattern dimension, as you even state, is not what it would be when worn. To say that “Thirteen-inch waists are not a thing of myths” is a misnomer, as you are referring to the corset measurement itself and not a woman’s actual waist measurement when worn. As you even state. That’s the exact kind of mis-information this article is trying to eliminate. Many of those tiny corsets were actually mannequin models for shop windows (beautify made, never worn leads to easy preservation), and you know how accurate mannequins are in store windows.
There is a huge difference the between body modification through tight lacing you mention and lacing in to take 2 inches off your waist measurement. It’s like saying because I exercise I must watch every calorie I eat and purge when I over do it. The women of their day who practiced those sorts of extreme tight lacing techniques regularly today be anorexic with stretched out tendons in her legs due to constant heel wearing, their own sort of body modification. Just because it happens doesn’t make it normal.
Just as there are many different styles of corset, there are many different shapes of bodies and different physical health requirements. Some people may be able to wear a specific style of corset all day without causing health problems. But others may not. I recommend that wearers of my corsets not constrict more than 2-3 inches at the waist, and not wear them for more than 4-5 hours without loosening stays and resting. I also mention that I have adhesions and scar tissue in my rib cage front and back from prolonged overconstriction when I was younger. It’s important to use your best judgement about your own body, and to not over generalize.
As a modern corsetière who create custom leather corsets under the label Wilde Hunt Corsetry (www.wildehunt.com), I really appreciate your article. My clients have included mothers, artists, business owners, computer programers, Iraq war veterans to name a few. And despite the large corset-wearing community that exists, I still get a lot of questions from the general public which I think are the result of these odd myths.
Regardless, corset wearing is becoming increasingly popular and I think a lot of people will agree that there is nothing quite as timeless and striking as a woman in an elegantly made corset.
Thanks for the corset-positive article!
Larissa Boiwka
Corset myths are much like any other medical myth. Such as “Women can’t drive at night because they can’t see in the dark.”I think we all know why these things are created and where they come from, mostly from an oppresive society trying to keep us in our place.
The clergy were very opposed to ladies that were in their view “excessively corseted” I’m sure it did make a few of them rethink their vows.
The myths are just as many for the other side too. That if a girl isn’t corseted her womb may wander causing all manner of ridiculous ailments. Laugh and learn I say, most of the elderly ladies I’ve spoken to say they loved how feminine and empowered they felt.Like “they were putting on their armor” This is what society had a problem with and I’ve got to say that’s how I feel when I wear mine.Feminine and bullet proof.
the whale bone… it’s baleen, is it not? the heavy hairs used by filter feeding whales as a substitute for teeth.
It is so refreshing to have a rational and reasoned explanation for the corset fashion of the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have studied extensively in the fashion museums of Europe and have rarely come across a corset with waist less than 24 inches [60 cm.] Those which are made with smaller waists clearly have not been worn at their tightest, because of the lack of stretch and pull on the eyelets and stitching. And many letters from young women say that they wore their corsets open by an inch or two – or three.
I have been wearing a corset 23 hours in every day since 1999. In that sense I suppose I am a tight-lacer. My corset has been pressing on my figure for nearly 13 years and my waist has reduced from my original 30 inches to my present 20 inches. It was not the plan to achieve this measurement, but as the years have gone by I bought progressively smaller-waisted corsets; made to measure and very comfortable. I experienced no pain or even discomfort at any time. Also my blood pressure, cholesterol, bone density, liver function, menstruation and hemoglobin are all perfectly normal. I am happy with this state of things and do not intend to reduce my waist any further. My husband is very happy with my figure and we take pleasure from the rituals of dressing me each morning and evening. I would never advise or recommend another woman to tight-lace as I do, because it must be her choice. But I can think of no reason to condemn it either.
Thank you again for a very helpful article.
I remember the “Merry Widow” in the fifties. I was still wearing it (only for dressy occasions) when I was a month or so pregnant, and my father said, “Don’t wear it if it’s uncomfortable.” Me: “Dad, it’s always uncomfortable!”
Thank you for an article that helps debunk many corset myths. One note of clarification…the article states…”And they didn’t leave a lot room for pregnant women’s fetus-incubating bellies.” In the mid 19th century, patterns for gestational stays (corsets) were readily available. These included laced gussets on the front abdominal sections to allow for the expanding belly as well as adjustable bust gussets to allow for expansion there. Many also included modifications to allow for easier breastfeeding making them a very functional, practical, safe garment.
I’ve written about this myself — though I took it much further in my 3-part series ;)
http://www.kitsch-slapped.com/2009/11/what-if-everything-you-knew-about-the-corset-was-wrong/
http://www.kitsch-slapped.com/2009/11/corsets-are-too-sexy/
http://www.kitsch-slapped.com/2009/11/corsets-bound-to-stay-suffrage/
Author Steele credibly dispels the myths surrounding corsets and health, but I would have appreciated some attribution to the doctors’ autopsy remarks about corsets and livers, particularly because it was in quotes. It sounded as if the remark was heard and repeated without confirmation thus compounding the very thing she sought to dispel, gullibility.
What is in this article is correct. Most corsets were worn with at least a one inch gap. There was a French Corset made in the 1850′s that was light weight and had fewer stays. By the way it takes a really strong grip to construct and put together a corset.
John, this article is a skim off the top of Steele’s book Corsets: A Cultural History, which delves deeper into autopsy reports and medical mosunderstanding with full bibliography. It’s also a fascinating book, I bought it thinking I’d use it now and then for costume research and read it cover to cover in two days.
Also, to the person questioning whalebone, yes it is baleen, but the corset industry called it whalebone so we do as well.