Corsets Through The Decades
By Samantha Yu
At the turn of the new decade, multiple fashion trends from the past have come to the present’s spotlight, such as mom jeans from the 90s, chunky sneakers from the 80s, etc. These retro fashion trends seem casual enough to easily combine with current outfits, but one old trend making a comeback seems unusual and only something we see in long dusty history textbooks assigned to us or classical paintings, the corset.
The corset roots further back in time compared to the other retro trends, especially from the Renaissance and Regency eras. Even though women now use corsets to boost their fashion style, it was used as a rather demeaning image towards women back in such royalty times. Such use of corsets was not merely just for comfort and style in the past but used more like a deforming instrument for women to achieve impossible perfect bodies or hourglass-shaped bodies. Some historians claim it to be a symbol of female oppression while others just consider it as an undergarment that can support heavy garments. Starting from the 1500s, French aristocrat, Catherine De Medici, started banning “thick waists” at court, which, in response, promoted the wearing of corsets by wealthy women in public view. The influential decision that impacted women’s clothing started forcing women’s bodies to conform to the fashionable shape of clothes instead of shaping clothes to the women’s bodies. Originally, corsets were supported by a wooden or bone rod called a ‘busk’, which was reinforced elsewhere with whalebone stays. Some corsets had iron corset covers and breastplates. In the 17th century, corsets were mostly made from linen and bones, with reeds, bents, or whalebones. The use of corsets that exposed the breasts was usually a sign of beauty and an upper-class status symbol. Corsets were so restrictive that the limited breathing capacity caused women to faint, their organs to move around or compress, poor digestion, and muscle atrophy or back pain. However, as each century passed by, the materials of corsets have changed to softer and better material and allowing women independence of managing the corset by themselves without struggle. For example, the 1920s introduced more flexible sports corsets that allowed women to live a new, active lifestyle. Then, in the 1970s, Vivienne Westwood began using corsets as part of her historic punk aesthetic and reimagined corsets to empower women rather than bind them.
Photo from Vogue Magazine
But, how and why did it make another big comeback now of all years? First, corsets never really disappeared from the fashion industry, women were now turning to more healthy alternatives like exercise and maintaining a healthy diet to keep their ideal body. However, the release of the new Netflix tv-show, Bridgerton, has caused the new rush of wearing corsets as a stylish choice to compliment the outfit and add a certain new type of elegance to modern fits. Not only just the corsets, but it also created an entirely new fashion trend category of Regency Core. Bridgerton has also come out with their second season, so we might see new Regency Core outfit ideas spread through fashion social media again sometime soon. In present times, we also see female performers like Beyonce, Shakira, and Lady Gaga wear fabulous costumes to highlight their femininity and add more drama to their musical sets. Not only in the pop industry, but also in stage plays, operas, and much more performances. Corsets are also transforming from underwear or inner wear to outerwear. Some common styles involve wearing a long solid color collar shirt or with a corset on the outside or something as casual as wearing just the corset and simple jeans.
The evolution of corsets also became tangible evidence of the evolution of free female sexuality. From originally a tool to force women to conform to a single body image propagated by men throughout early history, corsets are now more comfortable and more accepting of all body types. Corsets are now used as an accessory that women have the choice to choose to show off their personality or personal style. For more information on the history or general information of corsets, below are some interesting articles:
To learn more, click on the links below:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/vivienne-westwood-corsets-new
http://tahliamckellartextiles.weebly.com/corset-timeline.html
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/history-of-the-corset