Corset history 1500 - 1900

As I said yesterday, the first real corsets were worn in Tudor times.

The quote below is from website Elizabethan Costume.net.  Click on the link to read the entire article.

When people think of 16th century dress, the first thing that comes to mind is the corset. The corset represents a fundamental shift in the concept of clothing and tailoring; instead of shaping clothes to the body, as had been done throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the body began to conform to the fashionable shape of the clothing worn.

There are several myths about wearing corsets, many of which spring from Victorian corsetry rather than Elizabethan. In the 16th century, the corset was not meant to draw in the waist and create an hourglass figure; rather, it was designed to mold the torso into a cylindrical shape, and to flatten and raise the bustline. There is one 16th century reference to a small waist being fashionable, but on the whole it was a fashionably flat-torsoed shape, rather than a tiny waist, that the corset was designed to achieve.

There are a few surviving corsets or "Pair of Bodies." The first and best known example of a 16th century corset is the German pair of bodies buried with Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg in 1598 as seen above.

This is a modern tudor corset I found at the Blog Silken Stitches. At this time, corsets were solidly boned with parallel bones placed as close together as possible. On this reproduction corset there isn't even a gap for the bust like the historic pair of bodies above.  The silhouette was flat and conical.

In the 17th Century the waistline was slightly high for a brief period but ended up long like this corset. The neck is now round and open and the front of the corset is rounded instead of flat like the corsets in the 16th Century.  This corset is from the Victorian and Albert Museum in London.

This gown shows off the shape of the 17th Century corset well.  See how the shoulders are being forced backward.  Look again at the corset and the set of the shoulder straps.

In the 18th Century corsets were now being called stays.  A very small waist was in fashion at this time. Corsets were still heavily boned and conical shaped. And, please note, up until this time corsets do not venture down over the hips.  Women had stomachers (decorative covers for the front of their corsets) that could vary the look of their dress.

This is a good example of a mix and match ensemble from the 18th Century.  You can see how different stomachers could be used to change the look of this gown.  There is a really good article on stomachers at the Pragmatic Costumer's blog.  Check it out.

So onward to the 19th Century and the fashion silhouette changes dramatically!

I used to think no corsets were worn at this time, but how do you think the bust was kept so high and forward? ... yes, with a corset like the one below.

Early 18th Century corded stays from the blog Historical Fashions.

But, then I think ... HOW did we go from conical shaped, heavily boned corsets that stopped at the waist, to this one that goes well below the waist with relatively few bones?  This is when you have to start connecting fashion with historical events.

This was the time of the French Revolution with so much conflict between the social classes and fashion became simpler. There is a good explanation of this on the Costume Textile and Fashion Blog.  

During this transition, a few women did go without proper corsets or wore short corsets like the one above.  But after a time, all women were wearing the very long corset with the long busk (center front long wooden support) to achieve the correct fashionable shaped.

In the 19th Century there were some patterning innovations for corsets.  Look at the curved gusset pieces at the bust and hip on this 1830's corset.  It is from a collector's website called Salon of the Dames. 

The waistline is quickly dropping back down. The hour glass silhouette is coming into fashion. So, here is the march of curvy corsets decade by decade for the rest of the century.

1840

BIG invention ... in 1849, Joseph Cooper invents the front-fastening busk, which allows the corset to be taken off without being unlaced, only loosened. 

1860

1880

1850

1870

1890

Which brings us to the 20th Century and another dramatic change ... the "S" corset.  This corset thrust the hips back to make the posture shaped like an S. Also, now the front of the corset dropped below the nipples creating a very low bust line, the look called Mono bosom. Here is an idealized illustration of this corset.

Here is an idealized illustration of this corset.

Here is what it looked like on an actual human.  I like this photo a lot because it shows how wearing a corset makes the waist look narrow from the front and back, but the side view not so much.

Hmmm ... I've only made it to 1900.  That's enough for one day.  I will take this up on another day, working my way into 20th Century girdles and bras.  But, look at this illustration for a quick idea of what happened to corsets at the beginning of the century.