Corset comeback

I don't think a corset or a basque is paticularly alternative. There's nothing unusual in a ballgown with a fitted corset type top. I agree re thongs.

Strange this topic should appear now. I owned one a good few years back (when I was very much part of the goth scene) but it got a bit worn out and I've also put on weight so it no longer fits. I had an underbust corset and I loved the back support as well as the shape it gave me. I'm a natural hourglass shape anyway so it just enhanced the shape I already was.

I've actually just gone for a fitting for a new underbust corset yesterday. (It will be ready in 2 weeks and I can't wait to get it) The lady who sells them is very knowlagble and the majority of her work is actually for the NHS. She fits corsets for people with twisted spines, people in wheelchairs, and various other conditions that are helped by wearing a corset. I when my new corset arrives I will be fitted again and she won't let me leave the shop until she is satisfied I can do it up properly and get it back off again. She is also very strict about age and won't sell them to anyone under the age of 18 as they are still growing.

They are actually quite comfortable to wear once they mould to your shape. My posture is greatly improved (I tend to subconsciously slouch due to the weight of my boobs) and to be honest as I will mainly wear it under my clothes most people will be unaware I'm even wearing one. You would be surprised how many people actually wear corsets as underwear on a day to day basis. Just because you don't see your neighbour out in a full Victorian style overbust corset doesn't neccessarily meen they aren't wearing one.

As for the squishing of internal organs - well yes it does do that to an extent but no more than pregnancy does. If our organs weren't designed to move around a bit then they wouldn't. If worn correctly (ie not too tight) then corsets don't cause fainting. The reason women would faint more in Victorian days was probably due to lack of proper nutrition than corset wearing.

I think the reason that corsets went out of fashion was more to do with the invention of the bra. Corsets used to be used to support and lift boobs so when the bra came along it gave women the option to choose between the two.

But yeah, thanks for calling me stupid over my choice of underwear. I don't particuarly like thongs as an underwear choice. I don't see how having your bum hanging out and a thin strip of cloth between your cheeks would be comfortable. I could argue it's more about the aesthetics and for the benefit of men to look at but I wouldn't call someone stupid for choosing to wear them.

corsets started going out of 'fashion' when women took to bicycles, they started replacing the boning with heavily elasticated material, it was all part of the health movement about getting out in the fresh air, alongside the promotion of womens lib.

Fashion with the crinoline style of the first world war era began the final death knell, and the corset migrated to being a girdle style.

Dior was responsible for a brief come back during the 50s with their fashion for small waists, but it was gone again with the hippy movement of the 60s/70s.

however, they've still always been around as part of the erotic sub culture, and as i said in my previous posts, as part of the alternative fashion scenes.

Most of the stories surrounding severe waist training are myths, or were done by people purposely trying to make a statement/spectacle.

There seems to be quite a lively gay corset scene btw (google 'man corset' at your peril)

Horses for courses IMO on this one.

Very Gone With The Wind, the whole thing

I was under the impression corsetry etc was v much an alternative fashion (or even fetish) thing - ok, so now mainstream fashion would like to cash in on it. Same old, same old…

Much as I mourn the passing of what used to be my natural waist, I cannot see myself ever wearing a corset.
If others wish to, fine by me.

I do think that v restrictive and uncomfortable clothing has been a mean to suppress women in the past, however even if every Primark starts stocking laced corsets I cannot see the same happening now. We do have more of a choice what we are wearing, thanks the heavens above!

ftr, i have about 5 or 6 steel bones corsets, which i do and have worn regularly on nights out to Gothic night clubs and concerts over the years.

corset have been part and parcel of the alternative fashion scene for a long, long time.

Goth, steampunk, rockers..etc, corsets, the real steel boned one have been worn by women who dress in modern variations on Victorian clothing. You need only attend Whitby Goth Weekend to see corset wearing is very much alive and well.

All this move into mainstream is about, is the fashion industry deciding, once again, to hijack the alternative fashion scene. It happens every now and again. They've done it with military gear, tie dye, tartan, army boots, leather jackets, skinny jeans, band tshirts (people wearing ramones/motorhead tshirts when they've never even listened to them anyone?)...etc.

I've been part of that scene for a lot of years, as have older friends of mine (now in their 60s) and its something we often talk about, once the scene picks up on a 'fashion' you can pretty much guarantee it will crop up in the mainstream within 2-3 years.

i happen to be one of those women who love wearing corsets i feel and look good in them and NOT STUPID by all means, i dont wear them every single day i wear them once or twice a month depending on the occasion , i wear them as a fashion status not to achieve a certain body shape

PilchardPrincess
"I thought women sometimes had their lower ribs taken out to achieve the shape aimed for with corsets? I'm sure I heard that."

I'm sure I heard AIDS can be cured by taking vitamin supplements.

PilchardPrincess
"The woman in the film has said that she was on a liquid diet to achieve the look and for me that in itself is a terrible message. If you want to look good don't eat solids, quite aside from (and in addition to?) the whole trussing yourself up factor."

That's a great message - 'To achieve and maintain this emmaciated look I couldn't even shit properly '. That should be more than enough to put most people off trying to strangulate their waists.

PilchardPrincess
"Corsets are why women used to faint the whole time aren't they?"

But did they 'faint the whole time', whatever that means? Maybe the should have taken more vitamins.

'Women come in the shapes and sizes they come in and to deem tall slender figures "the fashion" one year and small curvy people "the fashion" a few years later and all variations of athletic, breast sizes, emaciated etc etc etc it's just awful. You can't change your body to meet these things like you can change your hairstyle, it's just so grim.'

Yes, absolutely. It's like objectification taken to its logical conclusion and totally forgetting that women are people.

Should say as well that it's one of those things where if I wanted to do it (and I knew quite a lot of people who did when I was younger in an alternative club scene kind of a way) then that's kind of all well and good, but still it bears looking at, at a societal level doesn't it + plus what kind of ideas are behind female desirability so often equalling extremely difficult to attain and uncomfortable and restrictive etc.

Sorry for multi posts!

That's not on the NHS obviously!

Oh I googled and you can get ribs removed for cosmetic purposes these days though

here

Is it countess? I had wondered!

I thought it was surprising as presumably open surgery would have been pretty dangerous then.

Looking at the article and I wouldn't think what the big picture of the woman is wearing is any more troublesome than some spanx or something (although those items obviously have probs from a feminist perspective!).

But statements like this:

"There are women in the public eye who are curvaceous and are helping in bringing a waist and hips back into fashion again, much like the figures of the 50s," says Bothamley"

But this isn't about a haircut or piercings or clothing it's about people's bodies and the idea that different shapes for women's bodies go in and out of fashion - which they do - is just bizarre. Women come in the shapes and sizes they come in and to deem tall slender figures "the fashion" one year and small curvy people "the fashion" a few years later and all variations of athletic, breast sizes, emaciated etc etc etc it's just awful. You can't change your body to meet these things like you can change your hairstyle, it's just so grim. I can't grow 6 inches and develop an hourglass shape no matter how "fashionable" it is, and what are those women to do when the fashion says you must look like me? And then we have fetishising really unnatural things eg waistlines like the one in the film....

Rib removal is a myth!

" Instead, a corset was a garment that provided considerable support when you were hand washing large bundles of linen, or carrying buckets of water up three flights of stairs in the house in which you were working, or on your hands and knees scrubbing floors."

These aren't the sort of garments that are likely to be undergoing a revival though are they, if we're looking at the film and what's on the catwalk.

That's a bit like saying oh high heel shoes are bad and responding aha yes but not all shoes have high heels and they are actually pretty useful IYSWIM.

I thought women sometimes had their lower ribs taken out to achieve the shape aimed for with corsets? I'm sure I heard that.

The woman in the film has said that she was on a liquid diet to achieve the look and for me that in itself is a terrible message. If you want to look good don't eat solids, quite aside from (and in addition to?) the whole trussing yourself up factor.

Corsets are why women used to faint the whole time aren't they?

Thistledew is right. I've worn historic costume from 15th-18th century styles, both upper and lower class; a corset per se isn't particularly distorting or uncomfortable. I don't know what the most extreme 19th ones would be like, though. We tend to forget the extent to which modern underwired bras are distorting (giving a middle aged woman the perky breasts of a 20 year old....) and if anything I'm probably more relieved to get my bra off at the end of the day than I ever was with a nice set of 17th or 18th century stays.
If waist training is becoming popular again that can't be healthy. In some ways, though, I think my concern is more about the symbolic meaning of corsets and whether some wearers/people who find corset wearers attractive are doing so partly because the idea of female restriction and old-fashioned gender politics appeals.

I disagree that corsets and stays were articles of female oppression per se.

Yes, there have always been pressures on women to take fashions to extremes, and some high society women may have laced corsets tighter than was good for them, but this is not true for every woman who wore corsets.

Firstly, the idea of waist clinching is a bit of a myth. Yes, some styles of corsets appear to shrink the waist, but what most of the original styles did was to create a rounder shape so that the waist was smaller from side to side, but was in fact deeper front to back, ie from a 0 shape to a O shape.

Secondly, a properly made corset that is fitted to your individual dimensions is not uncomfortable. Even poor women would have had access to a made to measure garment, albeit one that had parts salvaged from cast offs of wealthier women. Unless you go to the extremes of lacing, they do not inhibit your breathing.

Thirdly, women of all classes wore corsets, including those doing hard manual work. They most certainly were not lacing so tight that they were fainting at any exertion. Instead, a corset was a garment that provided considerable support when you were hand washing large bundles of linen, or carrying buckets of water up three flights of stairs in the house in which you were working, or on your hands and knees scrubbing floors. It should be born in mind that many male labourers would wear a corset, usually of leather, for just the same reason. Yes, the corset died out in the Victorian era, but it is probably no coincidence that this coincided with the increase in labour saving devices in the home.

Is it corsets or corset style clothing as worn by many goths?

You simply cannot get whale bone these days so if the former they need to be steel or plastic boned.

The image they show of the actress in Penny Dreadful - well she isn't wearing a corset, her outfits are certainly fitted but no where near as restrictive as the Victorian era garment.

And I'm not sure how many people can afford a propper corset as made by Vollers - not an add just for interest www.vollers-corsets.com/about-us most people, if they chose to follow the fashion, will go for high street styles that have been on wedding dresses for years, and high streets simply will not stock a garment that costs a fortune to make, need more skills than a factory in India can provide and materials that will last a propper lacing.

Personally I think the pressure women are put under to create an abnormal shape by exercise and diet is far more damaging. I cannot see a woman these days wearing a corset to bed unless she is of the minority who are already 'waist training'.

I have a corset type top with laces (actually a ribbon) on the front and with minimal boning - a strip at either side under arms, it is made out of something similar to a T shirt and is not restrictive.

Magic knickers/ pants of steel are nothing new. If it's a special occasion I wear them to give a better line under a dress.

I also wore when I was younger very pretty lace corsets, not particularly cinched in and no more restrictive than a bra. They were from mainstream shops including Marks and Sparks. Not every day but they were nice occasionaly , especially if a dress was fitted in at the waste. This was mid 80s.

The ones in that article are a lot more extreme. Like much cat walk stuff few in real life are going to take it on.

Lots of my friends wear corsets for nights out. They tell me that they are far less uncomfortable than high heels -the main downside is that it can be hard to bend over. Most of them are feminists, although only some are feminist activists. Some are men.

4. People who like it when women wear restrictive and uncomfortable clothing

Just buying supermarket underwear recently I was surprised at how the spanx and body shaping slips etc have really taken off, so I guess ut's not much of a surprise.