The Corset

The Victorian corset was an engineered garment: a stiffened bodice that shaped the torso into the era's ideal — a tiny waist between a full bust and full hips. Vertical channels held strips of whalebone (actually baleen) or, later, sprung steel; a steel busk fastened down the front with clasps; and long laces at the back, pulled by the wearer or her maid, did the cinching. This 1889 advertisement shows the corset at the height of its commercial power, sold like any modern branded good.

Corsets were worn by women of nearly every class, not just the rich — they were considered as basic as a petticoat, giving necessary support to the heavy skirts of the day. A well-fitted corset was a skilled piece of tailoring, and most women laced only to a comfortable reduction. But the pursuit of the 'wasp waist' through tightlacing made the garment infamous, and dress reformers, doctors and satirists fought over it for decades.

The medical debate was fierce and often exaggerated on both sides: critics blamed the corset for everything from fainting to deformed ribs, while defenders noted that working women did hard physical labour in corsets daily. What is certain is that the corset outlasted every attack — it was still standard when Victoria died, and only the First World War finally loosened its laces.