The Story of Corsets, Basques and Waspies. Over its long history the corset has had a crucial role in helping women achieve the fashion shape of the moment. It has been used as underwear and outerwear; it has been discreet and flamboyant; at various times it has been draconian, matronly, sexy and erotic and sometimes comfortable. For one garment to play so many parts is remarkable.
Whilst it has a long history (like the bra the earliest known form comes from Crete in 2000BC) the 'modern' corset is said to derive from the "cotte" of the 1300s. This was a rigid laced tunic of linen, stiffened with paste between two layers of fabric to closely follow the contours of the body. It helped create the slim, serpentine shape of medieval Europe; when the front and back parts were laced together it became the corset.
The "cotte", which is old French for a close fitting garment, has had a variety of names. By the end of the 14th century it was known as a basque, by the 1600s it was known as "stays" or "a pair of stays"; the word 'corset' was introduced as a refinement.
In the eighteenth century the corset became a device that compressed the waist, thereby drawing sexual attention to the bust and hips by creating the 'hourglass' figure. The corset sexualised women as its compression of the diaphragm led to shallow breathing in the upper part of the body. This constriction both caused and drew attention to the 'heaving bosoms' so loved in romantic fiction.
The style of the eighteenth century corset, which was later copied by Vivienne Westwood in her seminal Portrait Collection of 1990, squeezed the breast from below to make them bulge upwards and out. This so restricted movement as to make physical labour impossible, so to wear a tightly laced corset was a mark of social status and success for a woman, whilst displaying the wealth of a husband who could afford such an 'ornament' as a wife.
In 1832 a Frenchman, Jean Werly, patented the first woven corset to be made on a loom. With the arrival of the bustle in 1870, attention was drawn to the shape of women's hips and bottoms as well as waists, and a long curvaceous figure became the aim. It was achieved by the notorious S-bend corset which distorted the female physique, impairing both respiration and reproduction.
In the UK in the late 1800s, the Rational Dress Association highlighted the dangers of tight lacing, supported by the medical profession. But corsets were not just there for fashion. They were also believed to provide support to the supposedly structurally unsound, fragile bodies of women as well as protecting their morality. Comments on a woman's sexual behaviour were drawn from her corset. She was either 'straight laced' or 'loose'.
A popular theatrical scene was of the cuckolded husband discovering his wife's infidelity because the knots in her corset laces were different from those he had tied that morning. Similarly a lover's expertise was judged by the skill he had in unlacing a corset!
Of course, corsetry is not just for shaping women's bodies; some men have regularly worn the corset for support or control. One should also mention fetish rituals, which is where the vogue for tight lacing really originated. Society celebrities, such as Beau Brummel (1778-1840), wore the corset to achieve a wasp waist and so exaggerate a manly chest.
Corsets have been a regular favourite of transvestites and cross-dressers because they instantly create a curvy feminine outline without the need for padding. On stage the character of "Frank n Furter" in the Rocky Horror Picture Show took the taboo of transvestism into the mainstream.
But fashion goes in cycles and at the beginning of the twentieth century a young French designer, Paul Poiret, declared the corset dead. He created the style for modern dress with his 'Neoclassical Look' and perhaps for the first time in fashion history women could stand upright.
Corset designers struggled to counter Poiret's fashion ideas; they had already introduced a wide selection of corsets made to match each and every occasion from riding corsets, sleeping corsets, corsets for bathing at the seaside and corsets for singing or dancing. And it was the dance craze of the early 1900s that required freedom of movement that had the most dramatic affect on corset design.
The 'dancing corset' was greeted with acclaim as it allowed a freedom of movement that before had not been possible. This new corset had side panels of zigzagged elastic and fastened either by lacing down the back or with hooks and eyes down the side. For the first time a woman could fasten and unfasten her own corset!
The demands of war in Europe from 1914 led to women taking active working roles which required greater physical freedom and support for the back. At the same time a deeper corset was required to cope with the practical slimline wartime skirts. Difficult as it is for us to imagine, some corsets stretched to 56cm down the leg.
After the war women modelled themselves on a boyish ideal shape. Although women displayed an exterior boyish shape they opted for undergarments that were particularly feminine and a wide range of both combined and separate undergarments were developed.
By the 1920s the bra was well established as a separate garment but there was often an overlap with the corset. For example a long-line bra would restrain the ribcage whilst a smaller corset constrained the hips. Towards the end of the decade the dancing or sports corset combined with the bra to become the corselette or girdle. Made by firms such as Berlei, it was first introduced in the USA to help the fuller figure achieve a slimline shape.
The corselette was a cross between a slip, a bra, and a corset, combining a light bodice with shoulder straps and long compressed side panels in loom elastic which extended from the waist to mid-thigh. When the design reached Europe a French designer improved on the design by patenting a knitting process that created a shaped 'tube' of pink silk jersey.
But, of course, slimness was also achieved by dieting; which began to be promoted by high fashion magazines such as Vogue. In 1922 Vogue asked, "With the aid of the corsetiere, the physical culturist and the non-starchy diet, shall we soon develop a race of slender, willowy women? … Long live the mode of slimness."
Technological advances in the 1930s in man-made fabrics resulted in materials with two-way stretch such as Lastex developed by the Dunlop Rubber Company and Rayon by Courtaulds. These lightweight elastised corsets, known as 'roll-ons' because of how you had to put them on, offered support and restraint without physical danger and so the old laced and boned corsets largely disappeared.
In the 1930s, as Hollywood began to influence the public, women wanted to copy the film stars in make-up and dress style. In fact the creation of the 'talkies' had an effect on fashion. The problem was that rustling skirts affected the sound recordings and alternative synthetic materials were developed to solve this.
The resulting corselettes, 'Sleekies', were smooth and glossy and a real hit with women who could now dress like the stars. Coincidently at the same time the zip fastener was invented and by 1934-35 the Lightning Zip was being fitted to corsets as the ideal closure device.
Because of the move away from lacing, which provided a range of fittings in one garment, to a corset that was designed for a more specific size, the manufacturers, such as Warner and Gossard, employed professionally trained fitters at leading department stores. In response Berlei introduced their official corset sizing system.
As sports such as tennis and cycling became more popular specialist underwear, such as the 'sports corset' was introduced in 1934. This shorter corset had a 5cm waistband and was cut higher on the thigh. It heralded the 'girdle' or 'pantee corset' that became the best seller for leading fashion houses.
When the war broke out in Europe, wealthy Americans and fashionable Europeans averted their gaze and continued to focus on fashion. Incredible as it might seem Vogue announced "The only thing you must have… is a tiny waist, held, if necessary by super-lightweight boned and laced corsets. There isn't a silhouette in Paris that doesn't cave in at the waist."
Things changed rapidly, materials became scarce and lingerie became a luxury. Because more and more women were working in factories, and required underwear that would support their backs, corsets were excluded from clothes rationing in the UK. In the USA corsets were regarded as… "essential to the performance of women's war work."
Whilst the war in Europe ended in 1946 clothes rationing was to continue until the mid 1950s. But in Paris in 1947, Christian Dior launched his New Look. The key to this was its tiny waist achieved by his models wearing belt like corsets known as 'waist cinchers' or 'waspies'; accompanied by large bell-shaped skirts.
The British Picture Post commented on the New Look. "… Think of doing housework, or sitting at the typewriter all day, or working in a factory, tightly corseted and encumbered with layers of hip padding and petticoats. Our mothers freed us from these in our struggle for emancipation and in our active, workaday lives there can be no place for them."
However, women liked these glamorous body-shaping devices and fashion designers competed to create various types of corset for evening wear.
Americans were slower to adopt the New Look, having in the war years developed a strong independent style of their own. By using new fabrics, such as nylon, patented in 1937 by Dupont, and new manufacturing techniques, such as the warp knitting machine, they created a nylon elastic net known as 'power net' that led to a new generation of foundation wear. These two-way stretch garments were able to manipulate the figure into a variety of sexy shapes.
Hollywood continued to influence women's fashions worldwide. Marilyn Monroe epitomized the sex goddess with a shapely bust, a firmly controlled bottom and a mere hint of stomach.
For the less well endowed woman lingerie manufacturers provided rubber inserts, padding, quilting and spiral stitching. So effective was the trend that, by 1955, three out of four women visiting the Corset Guild Convention admitted wearing 'falsies' of some description.
In London, many leading couture houses worked closely with the corset industry. Others such as Christian Dior commissioned their own lingerie designers and credited them at their shows.
As a result of these collaborations the 'torsolette' was created. This was worn almost exclusively with evening wear, sometimes even forming the top of a couture evening gown. This was the first time since the Middle Ages that underwear had been worn as outerwear. The fashion quickly caught on and the 'torsolette' was to be the forerunner of the Basque.
But the 1950s were a decade of contrasts. The 'teenager' was 'born' and young women did not want to be associated with corsetry that imposed physical restraint and was what their mothers wore. The need to have the freedom of movement to jive and rock and roll meant that they turned to the separate bra and panty girdle.
Corsetry went into steep decline and a number of large scale manufacturers and the majority of retailers went out of business. The limited number of specialist suppliers and the declining numbers of women who wore corsets reinforced the corset as a fetish garment. Like the shoe fetish, the corset fetish continues to be one of the most important fetish fashions.
But why should tightly laced corsets be so popular in the fetish world? Freud believed it was related to the child's memories of the mother undressing. Others see the corset as a garment that causes intense erotic pleasure when worn. Havelock Ellis, one of the original sexologists, recorded women who said they were in a constantly stimulated state of arousal when out dancing in a tight corset.
By the 1980s and 1990s the corset as an object of fetishism had been diffused into the mainstream of lingerie through Punk.
But the invention of another new fabric was to revolutionise the lingerie industry from the 1960s onwards. In 1959 DuPont in America invented "Fiber K" which was originally marketed as Elastane or Spandex. Later the name was changed to Lycra and a new star was born. This wonder fabric was both more powerful and lighter than elastic and was impervious to detergents, cosmetics and perspiration. At last having a boned corset was unnecessary.
At the launch of her 1960 collection Coco Chanel said "elegance in clothes means being able to move freely…All those boned and corseted bodices - out with them. What's the good of going back to the rigidity of the corset?"
Warners were quick to market their 'Birthday Suit'; this revolutionary virtually seamless garment made of Lycra closely resembled a swimsuit, weighed just 85 grammes and was very expensive indeed. But it was a great success, to be followed closely by Warners Body Stocking.
In the teenage lingerie revolution of the 1960s fuelled by Mary Quant's miniskirt there was no place for corsets and corselettes with their attached suspenders. The age of the 'Tights' or 'Pantyhose' had arrived. Traditionally styled corsets were targeted at older women and sold through mail-order.
But things would change again, driven by cult science-fiction films like Barbarella (1968) starring Jane Fonda and The Magic Christian (1970) starring Raquel Welch. Whilst Jane Fonda wore fetish-like clothing and always had an excuse to undress, Raquel Welch wore a sculptured leather corset that was provocative and again fetish-like. These films helped bring fetish clothing, as exotic corsets had become, back into the mainstream.
Before long such clothes were being worn by the early Punks, who emerged in London in 1976. For those who had money, the place to shop was "Sex", a boutique owned by designer Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McClaren who managed punk bands The Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls.
Vivienne Westwood's boutique sold fetish and rubber wear. She designed a leather and rubber, fetish style corset to be worn as outerwear. At the time it fitted well with Richard O'Brien's stage hit, The Rocky Horror Show, whose leading man wore a corset, garter belt and stockings.
Vivienne Westwood's influence over other designers was demonstrated by the 'costume' that Jean-Paul Galtier made for Madonna's "Blonde Ambition" tour of 1990. This sculptured corset with its conical breasts was reminiscent of the 1950s. Madonna's young teenage fans immediately started to demand a diluted version of her style; wearing basques and waspies with jeans as outerwear.
In trend setting stores in the USA and UK the demand for corsets, basques, waspies, and bustiers rocketed. Manufacturers were quick to respond and the look was interpreted by the big manufacturers like Warners, Gossard and Charnos as well as more specialist firms like La Perla and Lejaby.
At the same time that Punk was causing a stir in the world of music and fashion there was an increasing interest in diet, fitness and health. It suddenly became fashionable to exercise, jog or go to the gym. Body-stockings and dancewear made of Lycra showed off the toned and fit body in a figure hugging sexy way; often taking the place of underwear.
This openness about the body enabled lingerie manufacturers to design overtly sexy corsets and sexy lingerie for excitement. Femininity was key and luxurious fabrics were used, from lace, silk and satin to all types of Lycra, some transparent, others opaque and finished with frills, pleats and ruching.
Elegant corsets started to appear as evening wear and basques and waspies enjoyed a revival, creating the much admired figure of the day. In the mid 1980s American TV 'soaps' such as Dallas and Dynasty featured powerful, successful, ruthless and glamorous women who wore mannish suits in the boardroom and provocative basques in the bedroom.
Such power dressing emerged as the style for confident, professional women and firms such as Rigby and Peller and Victoria's Secret responded with a huge range of erotic, feminine lingerie to be worn under tailored suits.
In 1990 Vivienne Westwood introduced her 'Portrait' collection, which had an enormous influence on both couture and high street fashion. Using historical costume references about garment construction and corsets she introduced a contemporary corset designed as outerwear.
In the following years corsets, basques and waspies have made a complete comeback in fashion created and celebrated by some of the world's leading couturiers.
In 1995 Elle magazine announced that "the hourglass is back." Ready to wear corsets started to appear in fashionable department stores and specialist lingerie shops. The line between underwear and outerwear became blurred and lingerie had turned full circle.
Christian Lacroix has used the template of the nineteenth century cuirass bodice in his evening wear. Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace have endlessly experimented with the corset to shape a woman's body into a fantasy ideal.
The new fabrics and leading designers have taken the humble corset and raised it to centre stage in the privacy of the bedroom, the glamour of the catwalk, the Hollywood red carpet or the club-wear of the young.
Sources and References:
Extracts taken from "The Best in Lingerie Design" by Joy McKenzie, published by BT Batsford 1997
Extracts taken from "A Century of Style: Lingerie" by Karen W. Bressler, Karoline Newman, Gillian Proctor, published by the Apple Press 1998
Extracts taken from "Lingerie A Lexicon of Style" by Caroline Cox, published by Scriptum Editions 2000
Extracts taken from "Making Lingerie and Nightwear" by Nicholas Bullen, published by Mills and Boon 1979
