corsets
Laced torso shapers
Corsets are close-fitting undergarments stiffened with boning to shape the torso, traditionally worn by women to narrow the waist and support the bust.
Once standard foundation garments, they fell from everyday use in the early twentieth century but persist in fashion, costume, and fetish contexts.
The verb corset means to confine tightly: a bureaucracy corseted by regulations.
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- ElizabethanOf late 1500s England
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
- 18th-centuryThe seventeen hundreds
stays · crinolines · fainting · swooning · tightlacing · whalebone · deportment · refinement
Strapless fitted bodice
- overbustCorset covering the chest
- staysRemains in place
- girdleBody-shaping undergarment
- foundationUnderlying support structure
shapewear · lingerie · brassiere · crinoline · petticoat · chemise · corselette · suspenders
Body's horizontal midpoint
- hourglassGravity-powered sand timer
- silhouetteFilled-in outline shape
- cinchingPulling tight to secure
- tightlacingExtreme corset wearing practice
compression · contouring · curves · posture · figure · reduction · slimming · sculpting
Victorian
Of a prim era
- EdwardianOf early twentieth-century Britain
- ElizabethanOf late 1500s England
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
18th-century · stays · crinolines · fainting · swooning · tightlacing · whalebone · deportment · refinement · modesty
bustier
Strapless fitted bodice
foundation · shapewear · lingerie · brassiere · crinoline · petticoat · chemise · corselette · suspenders · garters
waistline
Body's horizontal midpoint
- hourglassGravity-powered sand timer
- silhouetteFilled-in outline shape
- cinchingPulling tight to secure
tightlacing · compression · contouring · curves · posture · figure · reduction · slimming · sculpting · support
boning
Removing skeletal structure
- whaleboneKeratin plates from filter-feeders
- steelCarbon-hardened iron alloy
- buskStreet-perform for donations
grommets · eyelets · lacing · satin · brocade · ribbon · panels · seams · binding · interfacing
- fashionfashion, clothing, apparel, attire, garment
- Victorian eraparlour, Victorian etiquette, etiquette, parlor games, courtship
- Victorianaseances, Dickens, spiritualism, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology
- 1840s-1850sOregon Trail, California Gold Rush, Mexican-American War, Manifest Destiny, Underground Railroad
- Belle EpoqueMoulin Rouge, cancan, can-can, absinthe, Art Nouveau
- Edwardian BritainEdward VII, Queen Victoria, country houses, manor houses, servants
corsetsloose clothing
Garments fitting loosely
freedom of movement · yoga pants · sweatpants · muumuus · kaftans
- Victorian corsetStiffened lacing bodice
- leather corsetFitted torso garment, animal skin
- corset beltStiffened waist-shaping band
- corset backBodice with crisscross lacing