Corset

Article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the waist and support the bosom, whether as underclothing or as outer decoration.

The corset first developed in 16th-century Spain and was made of two pieces of cloth, laced together in the front by a vertically-placed pair of wooden or bone rods (a device known as a busk) and reinforced elsewhere with whalebone stays. First associated with the aristocracy, it was adopted by bourgeois women by the 18th century. During these eras, it molded the upper body into a V-shape and pushed the breasts up. After the French Revolution it went out of fashion because of the ascendancy of Directory and Empire fashions, which were high-waisted; the corset regained its fashionability about 1815.

Corsets of the 19th century were shaped like an hourglass and were reinforced with whalebone and metal. Working-class women wore cheap mass-produced corsets. Although polemics against tight corsets are common in literature from the late 17th century onward, corsets continued to be worn until the 1910s, when fashion began to emphasize a slender straight figure. In the late 1930s there was an attempt by designers to bring back the boned corset, but World War II cut short most fashion innovations. In the 1950s the guêpière, also known as a bustier or waspie, became fashionable.

During the 20th century the corset was gradually replaced as everyday wear by the brassiere and the girdle, but it remained in use as costume wear and among those engaged in certain forms of body modification.

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