JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
We've had threads on corsets, the thankfully defunct, breath depriving shape shifting garment controversially discussed into 2017. We tend to have a fascination with them, too. Why? Well, maybe we miss them, too, a little.
Deco era Fairy godmother, queen of all feminine perfection remains frozen in a centuries old corseted outline with teeny, low waist, unseen hips and narrow ribs. Entertainingly, ' fashion ' during this era featured that ' bosumy ', almost top-heavy, matronly style. Fairy tale princesses, queens and godmothers remained unchanged.
Disclaimer, please. No single thread can encompass " The History of Corsets ", please excuse centuries of missed lace and lacing?
One, huge reason corsets, and their shape-shifting helpmate the crinoline are so controversial is because it is thought women wore them to make their shapes more attractive- i.e. feminine - to men. No sociological anthropologist, and through time, certainly, some models can only be described as er, platforms. But. Enjoying a fashion life span nearly as long as the cute shoe, was it always, really merely a male-pleasing, innards-displacing, centuries-long mandate? Bet it wasn't.
Found this on NYPL, a European ( man ) skewering women's fashion extremes. Lacing corsets more and more tightly gave a ' better ' outline. From 1829, it's hilarious and not indicative of admiration- by men.
We. Loved. Fashion. Fashion has hysterically gone out of fashion, at least society-wide. It's a kind of liberation for women. Unless one chooses, we're no longer tied to the extremes which could cause say, a woman of the 1860's to engage in her house maid's work wearing crinolines. Scrub a floor embedded in a wire frame?
From a book on women's ' toilets ', of the era, in Hathitrust, here's the uber-feminine, corseted outline shared by a fashionable woman and both her maids. Obviously a butterflies 'n roses extreme, it illustrates an expectation.
" No one, we apprehend, would be likely to deny that, to enable the fairer portion of the civilized human race to follow the time honored custom of presenting to the eye the waist in its most slender proportions, the Corset in some form must be resorted to. "
From " Freaks of Fashion ", 1870.
A French, 16th century corset yikes! Was it really? No idea- an 1870's, French book says so.
1700's, still the French history.
If these are accurate for 1745, and a maid is fastening her corset here, they became far more cumbersome later?
Pretty funny and cool book, first making you think it's an anti-corset work. Nope. Kinda ' Ode to Corsets Through Time '. If this gentleman wrote of women's shoes, you'd be a little worried about him. Please note it is public access and a copy exists which has been republished.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951002345106b;view=1up;seq=7e
Although there was concern corseting was harmful to women, copies of anti-corset material I turned up in simple searches seem mostly from Germany and France although France seemed equally thrilled with the garment- so go figure.
It's from later- 1905 but the best image. NYPL, and a German illustration
Then there is this from the " Freaks " book! It's so odd. Out of Godey's and Demorest's not a peep on the following. There really is a bizarre flavor to this era book suggestive of well, someone a little too interested in the control function surrounding both garment and women? Really have not seen this elsewhere. There's some great basic information, please go easy on accuracy?
Ah. Thomson's, Godey's and Demorest's gave us the corset, around which legends floated. Painfully, but floated.
From ' our ' era, corsets seem to me to have created one of the most endearing and enduring images- if u we hold in History. Nope, not at all good for you, not comprehensively admired by men despite what current thought may be ( the whole anti-crinoline campaign was part of it- corsets being half of what created that astonishing outline ), you could not stand over an operating table, preside over board rooms, climb Everest or achieve most of our landmark advances while dedicated to such an outrageous profile. And still. Somewhere in our dreams lurks that Fairy Princess- her improbable figure molded by a corset.
NYPL provided most images, " Freaks of Fashion ", link provided, others
So funny, as the tight waist, huge flair extreme became absurd, cartoonist pens became more barbed
A French corset dropped into the beginnings of a crinoline- twofer
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