Taefirstwife's Topics (338)

You said everything I was thinking!

but they were restricting back then. it isnt talking about modern corsets, which are different.

Actually corsets were supposed to make you out of breath and they were so tight that sometimes women would literally faint because they couldn’t breathe. Today’s corsets aren’t like that anymore, but it used to be the norm

And everytime some manga/webtoon/manhwa portraits a dress more comfortable to use (without a corset normally) it's exactly this style.

Yeah I was thinking that lmaoo pretty sure the ladies back in the day was cinching that waist for that specific look so yeah it suppose to be uncomfortable n Boarderline deathly

There’s movement that can not be done with victorian corset, that’s true, but old times have stays too and that’s not as restrictive as the scenes we always saw. not to mention corset at old times werent only made for aristocrats, women from working class used corsets too and they can still did their jobs

You are wrong, this is a myth, you can just Google it to find out. How can a corset be this awfull and be worn by women to hike mountains at the same time??

back then, depending on the material used, corsets could have become hot and uncomfortable and heavy.
because working class couldnt afford high end material, their corsets werent as restricting as those used by the high class.
im not trying to argue and say that corsets are bad, but they were more dangerous to wear back then.
thats why i said modern corsets are different. theyre lightweight, the material is breathable and not as heavy, and people are more aware of how to pick and choose which corsets are better for them to wear and less harmful to their health.

For people that think corsets are bad and deathly:

https://youtu.be/zNwTqanp0Aw

They were restricting and there were some that could be too tight but it’s all about the way they were laced. Normal women who weren’t nobility were also wearing corsets for centuries during the day but they weren’t tightened to that point

No it wasn’t. Corsets were made by women, and the main purpose was to maintain posture. Today’s corsets have no wires like old ones, but both shares the same purpose (e.g medical brace corsets for scoliosis). The tight lacing that we often saw in fictions where they tightly cinching the waist was not how victorian women nor edwardian ladies did (this fact had been voiced multiple times by folks who studied fashion history). Corsets were often custom made, fainting scenes like the one portrayed in Pirate of the Caribbean showing the girl fainted after wearing a corset that was too tight happened mainly because her father bought that hastily without proper measurement beforehand. Corsets supposed to fit the wearer, and not the other way around. Corsets also supposed to be used after someone put undergarment first, but we often sees medias acting like the ladies put corset first before everything else.

It’s not a myth though. I’m not saying that all women were fainting 35 times a day because of corsets, but they were used to make their waist thinner and some were way too tight. I can’t explain it properly since English isn’t my first language so I’m not going to debate on that topic, feel free to answer or not

Idk where did you get the ideas that it was borderline deathly when working class women also wear corsets, it could be traced from 1840-1920. Physician also said that the bottom rib arent hard bones hence it could move regarding the corsets, but once someone took off their corsets, it’s gonna bounce back to its original shapes, this debunk the myth of broken ribs caused by corsets. Corsets back then wasnt straight from bust to hips, but instead had silhouette and followed the body shape. It enlarged the hips, thats why we see dresses got ridiculously big around the hips, which give optical illusion that made the waist looked much much smaller than it actually is.
But the depiction of old corsets in medias were often straight from bust to hips, which further spread the misconception of the corsets itself.

Well, no. The corset had 3 main purposes: for women they were made to distribute the weight of the breast to the torso, giving support, and to make the silhouette of the time (the slim waist that u see wasn't achieve by compressing the waist, but by the design of the corset, there were no necessity to compress the waist since the model of the corset was already giving them the shape they wanted). And the other purpose of the corset was to make the men look slimmer. Yes, man used corsets to and they used for hiding their belly. Corsets restricted the movement, but not enough for people to feel pain. Actually, a lot of people who used corsets this days have less back pain then before wearing it (myself included). Let me question u about something: how can a corset make people lose their breath and still be used for opera singers while performing? English is not my first language either, but all that I'm saying in here come from years of research since I have a master's degree in period fashion. Another thing, although tight lacing existed back in the days, it is much more of a contemporary practice than it was back then.

No... you cant even name me the material used by aristocracy and common people, and the difference didnt significantly change the health outcomes. They have similar structure despite allegedly have different materials. it sure werent as comfortable as today’s corsets, but it was not created to be dangerous. The restricted movement sure caused people to develop corsets, some stopped wearing it, and some developed it to be what we called as bras, but the purpose was never to cinch your waist to the point you almost die. I think you need to look up for actual evidences and fashion historian that speak about this matter rather than using today’s logic that had been debunked.

Idk where did you get that data but while corset was indeed make waist smaller, it wasnt supposed to be too tight, as it supposed to maintain your posture properly. The tight lacing scenes werent even accurate because the pulling actually did nothing to tighten it, the lace is on the front, why would you pull it from the back? but somehow it had become the norm in medias how corsets were put when it wasn’t.

Thank you!!! You explained it better than me

*cough* duchess’s 50 tea recipes *cough*

YES!!!

(ノ≧∇≦)ノ

Literally just read all the comments and learned a lot about corsets. I didn’t major in fashion history but I do like studying it and I love the explanations that were given about why corset were actually not meant to be a bad thing. I understand that maybe some people in the past did go too far in the use of a corset but generally they are meant to help the women. It has nothing to do with this era or region but in France, in the era where women had the enormous dresses that lead to the creation of French Doors, a corset was NEEDED in order for the ladies to even move. Corsets were not just meant to make the ladies look nice but would help alleviate the weight from the heavy dresses of the era.

From Hello Again I guess

I see a fellow cultured man