Corsets

The History of a Corset Function


A corset is a piece of clothing that holds in the torso (upper body) and shapes it into  what’s known a hour glass figure . It is used for pulling in the waist and supporting the breasts.
Some women wore corsets tighter than they needed so that meant they would buy corsets with smaller waists. Most women, although they bought an 18 or 20 inch waisted corset they could leave a gap at the back to have a more realistic 22-26 inch waist. For most women the corset would only reduce their waist by only an inch or two at most.
Women would also use corsets to make their bust look bigger by pushing their breasts up. Doing this would also make it look like their waist was smaller. Also,

16th to late 17th Centuries

The earliest corsets were called "payre of bodies" and were usually worn with a farthingale (hoops under the skirt to make the skirt or dress stand out in a circle). The payre of bodies, which the name then became stays, this made the upper body into a matching shape of the skirt. They had shoulder straps and ended in flaps at the waist. They flattened the bust, and in so doing, pushed the breasts up. The stays made the front of the body flat by squashing the breasts in that pushed them over the top to make them fuller. They wanted to the flat body different to the roundness of the breasts and the skirt.

By the middle of the 16th century most women were wearing corsets. They were made of several layers of stiff linen with wooden busks or shafts that were in a pocket at the front the keep the corset and figure straight. This is the sort of corset that was used until about 1860.

18th Century

In the 18th-century the main idea was to make the upper body shaped like a upside down cone. Underneath they wore skirts in a similar cone shape but the right way round. This made it look like two opposite cones sitting on top of each other. The primary purpose of 18th century stays was to raise and shape the breasts, tighten the middle of the body, support the back, improve posture to help a woman stand straight, with the shoulders down and back, and only slightly narrow the waist, creating a 'V' shaped upper body over. Another type of corset was called a jump and it didn’t have as many stays. It was worn for informal occasions. It didn’t help her posture that much but it did give her some support. Both of these corsets were underwear and would not be seen under their clothing. They were more comfortable than the ones before. Women could work and move well in them.

Late 18th to early 19th centuries

Stays became much less tight when the fashion changed to the empire style. This style was more about making the breasts look bigger and the a skirt that went straight down. Some stays were still used but they were short and only went below the breasts so they didn’t pull the waist in at all.
By 1800 the corset had become mostly for supporting the breasts not shaping the waist. Corsets still shaped the body but not making it the V shape with the tiny waist like it was originally.