One question is asked repeatedly on FR’s surveys and in online forums: “What corset is best for my body shape?” or “How do I find the right corset shape for me?”

There are two possible answers.

The right corset for you is the one that fits your body shape the best.

This is how ready-to-wear clothes and lingerie have trained us. We try things on, and the one that fits the best is the one we buy. The resulting shape may not be what we had originally envisioned, but it fits ok, so it must be the right one for our body shape, right?

However, this was not the approach taken in the historical past. The best corset wasn’t just the one that fit, but also the one that gave the wearer’s figure the fashionable external shape that they wanted. In other words,

The right corset for you is the one which gives you the final external shape you want to achieve.

Corsets and other underwear were supporting players to the overall fashionable shape, not an endpoint in and of themselves. In the historical past, the body would be padded out, smoothed, and reduced where necessary to achieve the final shape that the client wanted. Although corsets today are divorced, for the most part, from everyday fashion, they were an integral part of everyday wear in the historical past, just as a bra is integral for women today. As fashion changed, the fashionable shape changed, and so corsets had to change as well, sometimes struggling to keep up.

Corsets follow step by step the transformations of the fashions; and it can scarcely be otherwise.

The all-important in stays is for them to be in harmony with the cut of the dress. For instance, it would be absurd to have stays compressing the hips when the extreme fullness of the skirts requires them to retain their full development. In this case, the corset should be short and not come over the hips…

In a word, every change of fashion brings a new study for the corset.

-Peterson’s Magazine, July 1855

 

Why is corset history important?

So why should you, as a modern corset maker, care about the past history of corsetry and fashion?

Understanding the outer fashionable clothes that the corset needed to support will allow you to understand the purpose of each style of corset. Context is key in understanding what each corset style or pattern can do, and how to replicate those results. Fashion has moved the waist line up and down, the bust line in and out, the shape of the hips out and in, all using corsets and other underpinnings to achieve these effects. Women of all shapes and sizes wore corsets in the past, and the techniques they used to trick the eye and achieve the desired fashionable silhouette can be used by makers today.

Lady Florence Baker, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public domain imageUnknown woman, 1890-1900, State Library of Queensland. Public domain imageUnknown couple, Worcester MA, 1890-1900, Author's collectionUnknown woman, Partick, 1890-1900, Author's collection

 

Scope of the Series

In this series, we will go on a journey through time, look at the intersection of corsetry and fashion, and answer the questions “How did the cut of the corset change to support the change in fashionable shape?” and “What was added to the figure to support the fashionable shape?”

To answer these questions, we will draw on a wide variety of sources: corsets in museums and private collections, fashion magazines, mail order catalogs, and patents, which include detailed pattern diagrams and other information which can help us understand what their inventors were trying to achieve. 

 

The Cycle of Fashion: Looking at developments from the 18th century to 1850

Fashion runs in cycles. Usually there is a long run of one fashionable framework, then something causes upheaval and a new framework is created. The dramatic new shape requires the underwear to change shape to support it, giving us a rich wealth of innovative designs and ideas that modern corsetmakers can draw from in their own work.

Below, you will see our timeline of fashion, with the underwear (on the left) that created the fashionable shape, and on the right, the fashion that it supported. 

 

1780's: Pre-Revolution

Since the focus of modern corsetry is what has become known as the "Victorian" shape, we will begin, for the purposes of this series, half a century before Queen Victoria, in the eighteenth century. Before the corset became the garment that we would recognize today, "stays" were de rigeur from around 1670 until the French Revolution in 1789. The Revolution caused massive social and fashionable upheaval, and the stays, with their conical shaping of the torso and emphasis on the narrowness of the waist, went out of fashion, along with the panniers, which supported a wide skirt and also helped to emphasize the narrowness of the waist.

1780
Woman's Stays, Chemise and Paniers LACMA M.2007.211.353 Public domain image  1760-80
Sack-Back Closed Robe LACMA M.56.1.1 Public domain image

 

 

 

1790's: Post Revolution

After the Revolution, with the political world turned upside down, the stays and their associations with the old French aristocracy were thrown out. The new fashionable silhouette idealized simple, Grecian forms with a high, rounded bust and long smooth line from the underbust to the floor. Thus the new undergarments did not reduce the waist at all, but smoothed the figure from underbust to hip, and raised the bust high, giving the effect of a long waist. If you have watched any TV or film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, you’ve seen this fashionable silhouette, known in English as “the Regency Fashion”.

Fortunately for us, women experimented with a variety of styles of underwear to achieve this shape. They tried everything from short bust bodices, which look very similar to a modern bra, to long corset/stay combinations with minimal boning.

Brassiere 1790’s to early 1800’s, Kyoto Costume Institute

This short wraparound brassiere in Kyoto is a perfect undergarment for these late 1790's styles. They would support the bust into the high, lifted shape, yet because of the full skirts, there is no need for smoothing below the underbust.

 
1798 
Morning Dress, The Lady's Monthly Museum, Sept 1798 LACMA M.86.266.12 Public domain image 1790-95
Woman's Dress 1790-95
LACMA M.57.24.11
Public domain image

 

 

 

1800 - 1810

In the early 1800's, the fullness in the skirt moved to the back, leaving the front of the dress completely smooth and exposing any curve in the stomach. Have a look at the examples below: For slender women, who just needed bust support and didn't have any problem areas in the stomach or hips, a Corset Elastique such as the example from the Met Museum NYC, or the one seen at the Museo Arlaten link, would have worked well (you may also remember the Corset Elastique study with which Amanda Lerum Faulkner won a prize in our Competition in 2012). If more coverage of the body was needed for modesty purposes, a long line corset such as the one at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, with almost no cording, could be worn. For women who needed extra smoothing in the areas that fashion deemed troublesome - the stomach and hips - a long line corset with corded panels would have been worn, such as the one from the Ohio Historical Society. The fashionable goal was a high, uplifted bust and a body reminiscent of a Ionic Column.

The long line style of corset would remain in style and use the same style of patterning right through to the 1840's. The pattern was quite simple: front and back panels, with gores and gussets to shape and support the curves of the body, cording to support the panels, a stiff busk down the front, and a laced opening, usually in the rear. The pattern seen in the Ohio Historical Society corset link below is a great example of the simple pattern shapes used over the next 40 years. These same techniques for shaping the hip and bust areas would continue to be used for the next 100 years.

1800-1807 corset, Museum Fine Arts, Boston

1800 Corset, with pattern diagram, Ohio Historical Society

1804-07 Corset Elastique, Museon Arlaten France, 2003.0.6392

1805-10
Corset Elastique,  Met Museum NYC, C.I.46.82.8, OASC license
This little confection is made of silk satin and gauze, with metal springs in the channels to stretch and support the bust.   1800
The Lady's Monthly Museum, Afternoon Dress for May 1800, LACMA M.86.266.38 Public domain image  

 

 

 

1810-1820

The 1810's saw the continued fashionable focus on the bust, lifted high and spread apart by a wooden busk. This 1811 corset from the Met Musuem, below left, looks rather plain made up in a white cotton, yet the construction has several interesting details. The front panels are cut on the bias, with what appears to be an extra piece sewn inside as a waist stay. This would allow the wearer maximum flexibilty and stretch in the bust and hip area, while retaining waist control. The bust pocket fastens with a buttoned flap, allowing the busk to be removed for washing. There is a drawstring in the front neckline, which extends from the center front to the shoulder straps - notice that one side is shown with the drawstring loosened. This would allow the wearer to adjust the fit of the corset to the occasion, dress style and her current bust size. The Met corset is very similar in patterning to the 1811 corset from the Missouri Historical Society, which has some lovely embroidering and cording detail around the waist area. Not every woman would have the expansive bust curves that fashion required, and the Missouri corset has a solution to that - bust pad pockets - which could be filled with different sized pads as the occasion and dress required.

Corset, c.1811 with pattern diagram, Missouri Historical Society

1811
Corset Met Museum NYC X.51.4.1
OASC license

1810
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Half Dress, Nov 1810  LACMA M.83.161.151 Public domain image 1815
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Evening Dress, Dec 1815, LACMA M.83.161.179 Public domain image

 

 

1820

The high waisted silhouette remained until the fashionable waist started to come down in the 1820’s, and the waist returned to its natural, or neutral, position in 1826. The fashionable bust was lowered from its previous heights. The corset changed to accommodate this, with the bust gores deepening, which allowed the bust to be spread out and flattened a bit. 

1820-30

Corset, Met Museum, 1999.216.6
OASC license

1820
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Walking Dress, November LACMA M.86.266.302 Public domain image 1823
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Full Dress, Dec 1823 LACMA M.83.161.216 Public domain image 1825
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Ball Dress, March 1825 LACMA M.83.161.229 Public domain image

 

 

 

1826 

In 1826, the fashionable waist returned to its natural place for the first time in almost thirty years, and the bust was no longer the prominent fashionable area. A smooth slope from underarm to waist was becoming the fashionable ideal. Fashion's attention would begin to shift to the shoulders, with sloping shoulders becoming the desirable shape. To accommodate ever-widening necklines, the shoulder straps on the corset would shift even further to the outside of the shoulders, to bring them down into a fashionable slope.

Mid-Late 1820s
Corset, 
Met Museum NYC 1982.82.3 OASC license 1826
Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Dinner Dress, Feb 1826 LACMA M.83.161.243 Public domain image

 

 

1830's

In the mid-1820’s, the silhouette, which had been relatively narrow in the shoulders and hips, began to expand, with puffed sleeves exaggerating the shoulders and full skirts, until the 1830’s saw the full blossoming of the sleeves, plumped out with down-filled pillows worn on the upper arms to support the sleeves. The skirts were held out with a sucession of petticoats, some stiffened with cording.

Throughout the 1830’s and 40’s, while the fashionable external elements of dress changed shape, the basic long sweeping line from bust to waist did not. The techniques used to pattern corsets in the 1810's were still being used in the 1840’s. The corset was still made with front and back panels, shaped with gores and gussets to shape and support the curves of the body, with a stiff busk down the front and a laced opening, usually in the rear. However, the proportions had shifted. The bust gussets deepened and spread and hip gussets widened. As Queen Victoria ascended the throne in Britain and the Victorian era was officially born, having curves below the waist was becoming fashionable again.

Woman's sleeve plumper, muslin dress and straw bonnet LACMA M.2007.211.440 and M.2007.211.739 Public domain image

Corset 1830-35,
Met Museum NYC 2009.300.3031a–d, OASC license

1829
The Ladies Pocket Magazine May 1829 LACMA M.86.266.469 Public domain image 1833
Paris Ball Dress The Ladies Pocket Magazine April 1833 LACMA M.86.266.497 Public domain image 1834
Walking Dress The Ladies Pocket Magazine July 1834 LACMA M.86.266.499 Public domain image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1840’s

During the 1840’s the side waist stayed in the natural position it had occupied during the 1830’s and the front waist dropped into a point. A small bust was in fashion, and for those more generously endowed, the bust was flattened, the goal being a long smooth line from neck to bust to waist. A new style of corset was worn to create this smooth line, as seen at the link to the Kent State 1838-42 corset below. This corset is made in a very different style than the corsets which had been worn previously, patterned similarly to a dress bodice of the time and very similar to a pattern for stays from Godey’s in 1853. The goal of this new corset style was to flatten the bust and smooth the torso, not restrict the waist. The fashion plates show a nice conical line from bust to waist, but when one looks at photos and dresses that survive from the time, the bust to waist curve is not extreme, but the bust flattening is! The hips, hidden under a full skirt, were not seen at all, yet the corset still extended down past the waist, shaping the hips.

Kent State 1838-42 corset and petticoat

1840s
Corset, Met Museum C.I.37.45.93 OASC license A pattern for stays, similar to the Kent State 1838-42 corset Pattern for Stays, Godey's Ladys Book 1853

1843
Day dresses, May 1843, LACMA M.83.161.75 Public domain image

1841-43
Wedding dress, 1841-43, LACMA M.83.231.21 Public domain image

1845-48
Woman's Dress, 1845-48 LACMA M.2007.211.744 Public domain image

 

Fashion Plate versus Reality

Now, thanks to the recent invention of photography, we can start to see how the fashionable shape seen in fashion plates really looked on women’s bodies. 

These photos of Charlotte Lockhart and Mary Todd Lincoln, both taken about the same year, provide a great example of how different body shapes adapted to the same fashionable shape. Charlotte (below left) has a long torso, also known as being "long waisted", with a longer distance between her bust, lowest rib and her hip. In order to achieve the fashionable long line, the corset waist may be below her natural waist if need be, and her smaller bust can remain in a lifted, flattened position. 

On the other hand, Mary Todd Lincoln (below middle) is short waisted. There is as a much shorter measurement between her bust, lowest rib and hip. You can see that her ample bust line has been flattened by her corset so as to be almost in line with her shoulders, yet she has also achieved the long, fashionable shape of the late 1840’s. Other women who had a short waist chose a different style of dress (below right), which treated the bust differently, and was a bit kinder to the figure.  

 

Charlotte Lockhart, later Mrs Hope. Grand-daughter of Sir Walter Scott, about 1846 Photographers Robert Adamson, David Octavius Hill, National Galleries of Scotland Accession no. PGP HA 523 Public domain image     Mary Todd Lincoln, 1846-47, photographer Nicolas Shepard Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-6189 Public domain Image    
Portrait of Unidentified Woman circa 1845-1850 LACMA M.91.287.7 Public domain Image

 

1850’s and Madam Caplin

One of Madam Caplin's corset designs from Health and Beauty, very similar in design to the 1851 Medium blue corset at the Museum of LondonHowever, change was coming, thanks to a corset maker in London, Madam Roxey Ann Caplin, who published a book in 1850 on her hygienic corset design: Health & Beauty; or corset and clothing, constructed in accordance with the physiological laws of the human body (republished in numerous editions; the 1856 edition is here). 

Madam Caplin’s book is a treatise on the defective design of the popular style of corset at the time, and was a promotional tool/catalog for her “scientific” designs. Her corsets were far different from what had come before, with multiple curving panels shaping around the body, gores and gussets to shape the bust, separate hip panels, a hook in the front to keep the skirts in place and a split front opening busk. Instead of a a new corset to correct an unhealthy posture, she recommended exercises for the arms and neck. Many of the unhealthy postures that she demonstrates in her book would be diagnosed today as upper crossed body syndrome, and treated with almost identical exercises.

She won a prize medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition with her new corset designs, two of which have been preserved at the Museum of London and can be seen online here:

1851 Light blue silk corset front, and back view

1851 Medium Blue silk corset front and back view

 

This was a far different kind of corset than this patent from 1850 #US7627, below left, or this pattern for stays from Godey’s in 1853, below right. These 1850's corsets shaped the body into a flattened tube, with little to no waist definition. A very flat, youthful figure was in fashion, and the corset did its best to sculpt the body into that shape.

Patent #US7627, 1850Pattern for Stays, Godey's Ladys Book 1853

 

This poor woman, below left, is probably wearing a set of stays cut similarly to the 1853 Godey’s stays (above right) or the Kent State 1840’s corset and petticoat, trying to flatten what must have been a lovely, shapely bust into the flat chest and smooth line from shoulder to bust to waist dictated by fashion, as seen in this day dress.

Lovely blue 1850's day dress, Digital Museum Norway

Instead of the fashionable style, we have a Fashion Victim documented for all time! This style of corset works well for evening wear if one has a bust, as seen on Madam Spranza, right, but was horrible under high necked daywear. Our fashion victim really needed one of Madam Caplin's corsets! Thankfully, busts were soon to come back into fashion.

Unknown woman, 1850's, LACMA M.90.75.3 Public domain image Madame Spranza, Library of Congress LC-BH82- 5387 A, Public Domain Image

 

 

 

 

Next Time: A Tight Small Waist – The Crinoline Era

Kate Chase Sprague, 1860 Library of Congress LC-BH82- 2009 Public domain imageWhile it was certainly not Madam Caplin’s intention to promote tightlacing, her revolution in cut would allow the corset to cinch down tighter than ever before, allowing for maximum contrast between the wide spreading hoop skirts and a small waist. Women with full busts would find relief, as the new corsets were cut to support, shape and smooth the bust. Next time, the age of tight waists and wide skirts.

 

Poor Mrs Bradley found herself convicted of embonpoint and was inducted into a pair of Madame's Paris imported corsets on the spot, the presiding goddess herself lacing them with a gint that left Mattie almost breathless. 

But then it was worth something of a sacrifice to have a fashionable shape.  

- Mrs Bradley’s Diamonds. Peterson’s Magazine, December 1862

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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