corset

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Advertisement for a corset, Paris 1908

A corset (from French corset , originally a diminutive of old French cors "body") is a stiff piece of clothing belonging to the undergarment that fits tightly to the upper body and should shape it according to the applicable clothing line. Therefore, the corset changed shape and cut several times over the centuries; the stiffening methods changed with the advancement of technology.

history

The first forerunners of the corset developed in the 15th century in Burgundian fashion, where there was already a corset-like garment that emphasized the waist and chest; men also laced their waists at this time. The corset developed from stiffened bodices in the first half of the 16th century . Their existence before 1562 has only been proven to the extent that the dresses depicted in paintings from around 1530 in the form shown (flattened chest and conical upper body) would not be possible without a corset. The oldest preserved specimen comes from the grave of Eleonora di Toledo (died 1562) and is equipped with tube stiffens.

The Spanish court costume , which was prevalent between around 1550–1560 and around 1620, required a corset that shaped the upper body into a cone and flattened the chest, while the abdomen was pointed. The dress itself was high necked. In Spain itself, where there was a special fashionable development for a few decades, this remained so until the 1660s. In the early baroque fashion (approx. 1620–1650) in northern European countries such as France, England, Flanders, Holland and Germany, the bodice was less strict, especially the tapered belly area was a little protruding. Sometimes the waist and the base of the skirt went so far up, and the actual bodice was so short that not much was left of the conical shape of the bodice. They also wore cleavage so that the breast was visible. Around 1640, the French court developed a similarly conical corset shape, which, however, did not flatten the breast but lift it up to give the cleavage a beautiful shape. In the era of Louis XIV after 1660, the waist became gradually narrower than ever before, up to the wasp waist . The baroque bodice forms a straight line from the bust to the waist and was therefore stiffened on the sides with steel springs; this construction also created a straight posture, which suited the hours of standing in the ceremonial court life (of Versailles ). With minor changes, this form remained in effect until the French Revolution . The term corset did not exist back then; one spoke of rigid bodices ( woman-Lexicon , 1715), Leibstückern ( Liselotte Palatine , 1720), Schnürleibern or Schnürbrüsten ( Journal of luxury and fashions , 1780). In the Rococo, the lace was created by the z. Sometimes a very wide hoop skirt was added, which made the waist look even narrower.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, whalebone remained the most important stiffening material, even though corset rods made of spring steel tape, steel spirals and horn were invented in the late 19th century .

During the Directoire, Empire, and early Biedermeier periods , corsets were not considered to be absolutely necessary; They only became indispensable again around 1825. Under the influence of dandyism around 1820–50, men often wore corsets too, although these primarily constricted the waist, not the chest and ribs like the women's corset; this was especially common with military uniforms, and was z. B. worn by Emperor Franz Joseph I (until old age) and by Albert von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha . Around this time the term corset gained a foothold in German usage. Metal lace-up eyelets were invented in 1828, and in 1829 the first front fastener with hooks and eyes ( planchet ).

Special corsets for pregnant women (1908)

Between 1830 and 1870 the hourglass shape was developed, which is still considered the classic corset shape today: Relatively large upper and hip sizes with the smallest possible waist size; the hips, however, were initially not involved in the corset itself, as they were already covered by the crinoline and wide skirts or, from around 1860 onwards , were optically broadened by the gathered masses of the so-called cul de Paris . Since the clothing line, seen from the front, became narrower and narrower until around 1870–1885, the corsets also became longer towards the bottom, that is, they also shaped the hips and the belly, which bulged out in the earlier corsets. The hips were often artificially stuffed. In the 1890s, fashion required small waist sizes in particular.

Around 1900 a new type of corset developed: the S-corset , which pushed the chest out and the stomach in, forcing an unnatural posture. Around 1910 this S-corset was replaced by underbust corsets; around 1913–1915, corsets went completely out of fashion in the wake of the growing women's movement and the rapidly increasing professional activity of women (because of the First World War ). In 1917 , for example, the American War Industries Board , which was responsible for supplying the American armed forces with essential war goods, asked women to stop buying corsets in order to have metal for the armaments industry .

In 1901 Paul Schultze-Naumburg published the book The culture of the female body as the basis of women's clothing . In doing so, he contributed in the medium term to the reform of women's clothing ( reform clothing ) in the German-speaking countries , so that girdles were worn instead until the 1960s .

Health and dress reform

Historical drawings on the effects of corset lacing
Corset-normal body.gif
Suspected organ displacement
Long cable1892 crippling of the female chest by corset.jpg
Permanent chest deformation due to excessive lacing, especially if it is already started in the growth phase (based on a popular science book from 1892)


Reform corset around 1910 (left) ; Corset around 1890 (right) .

Doctors have repeatedly warned of the damaging influence of the chest, as it deforms the bone structure when the lacing is premature and compresses and relocates the internal organs when the lacing is excessive, or restricts the function of the spine through the (permanent) loss of muscles.

These warnings had no effect on fashion. Girls usually got their first lace-up breasts between the ages of 12 and 14, but occasionally even small children were tucked into corded bodices. The resulting deformation of the skeleton was not only accepted, it was even desired.

In the Austrian Empire in 1812 an ordinance from 1783 was re-issued, which expressly forbade the wearing of "bodices" for schoolgirls because of the health risks.

The criticism grew louder in the course of the 19th century, reinforced by the demands of the women's movement . Occasionally tragic cases have come to light, such as that of a young lady from Parisian society who was admired for her slim waist and suddenly died within two days:

“Her family wanted to know what caused this sudden death so early in their youth, and they decided to do an autopsy. The result was staggering: the liver pierced by three ribs !!! So that's how you die at 23! Not on typhus, not in childbirth, but on the corset! "

- from a Paris newspaper, 1859

Initial trials of a "reformed", ie corset loose women clothes, there were mid-19th century with the " Bloomer costume ", but not until the early 20th century won the reform movement under the influence of Art Nouveau artists like Henry van de Velde and Anna Muthesius trailer . Until around 1910, “ reform dresses ” were downright baggy, as if an elegant line without a corset was inconceivable. It was only with the fashion designers of Art Deco , first and foremost Paul Poiret and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel , that a clothing line developed from around 1912 that could do without a corset.

Towards the end of the 19th century, so-called reform and health corsets were offered. These had stretchable inserts or were knitted entirely from stretchable rubber threads. At the same time, there are instructions in women's magazines for reworking conventional models, e.g. B. by removing some corset rods and the rigid planchets .

Modern corset as underwear / lingerie

today

Since the 1920s, corsets have been used almost exclusively under historical costumes, such as B. in the theater, during re-enactment or rarely also to modern productions. Otherwise only for erotic purposes as a sexual fetish . Corsets are also worn for medical purposes. They can help with spinal conditions like scoliosis and kyphosis .

Modern corset as outerwear in the Gothic scene

The black scene should be emphasized , especially the Gothic and Steampunk subculture, in which corsets are often worn. The corset is also popular in the BDSM sector.

Since the 1990s, the corset has become more and more socially acceptable. Role models in the music scene and the fashion world paved the way for a wider use of corsets.

Less tight and stiff, mostly elastic corsets are also known as corselets (synonymous with French corselet and old French corsel = small body ).

Records

The Guinness Book of Records ascribes the narrowest recorded waist size to Ethel Granger (1905-1982), who gradually constricted her waist from originally 22 inches (56 cm) (1929) to 13 inches (33 cm) (1939). Recognition for the same measure was also requested for the French dancer, singer and actress Mlle Polaire (1874-1939). In 1999, the Guinness Book of Records introduced the category The Slimmest Waist on a Living Woman and awarded the title to Cathie Jung , mother of three who lives in North Carolina. Cathie Jung started wearing a corset for 23 hours a day in 1983 at the age of 38 with a waist of 26 inches (66.4 cm) and narrowed her waist to 15 inches (38 cm) by 1999.

See also

literature

Exhibitions
Monographs
Essays

Web links

Commons : Corset  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Corset  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The great image lexicon of fashion - from antiquity to the present , translated by Joachim Wachtel, Berlin: Bertelsmann, 1967/1977 (3rd edition), p. 450.
  2. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The great image lexicon of fashion - from antiquity to the present , translated by Joachim Wachtel, Berlin: Bertelsmann, 1967/1977 (3rd edition), p. 162, p. 167–175.
  3. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The large picture lexicon of fashion - From antiquity to the present , ..., Berlin: Bertelsmann, 1967/1977 (3rd edition), p. 207.
  4. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The large image lexicon of fashion - From antiquity to the present , ..., Berlin: Bertelsmann, 1967/1977 (3rd edition), p. 190 and p. 451, images on p. 194– 201 + 216.
  5. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The large picture lexicon of fashion - From antiquity to the present , ..., Berlin: Bertelsmann, 1967/1977 (3rd edition), p. 190
  6. ↑ Caresse Crosby, first US patent holder for the bra: Bra History: How A War Shortage Reshaped Modern Shapewear. Retrieved May 27, 2020 (English).
  7. ↑ Full text online
  8. ↑ Bernhard Langkabel: Man and his races . Fines-Mundi-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2014 ( facsimile of the Dietz edition, Stuttgart, 1892), p. 15f.
  9. ↑ http://www.planet-wissen.de/gesellschaft/mode/unterwaesche/pwiekorsetteingeschnuerteweiblichkeit100.html
  10. ↑ http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=pgs&date=1812&page=534&size=45
  11. ↑ Ludmila Kybalová, Olga Herbenová, Milena Lamarová: The great image lexicon of fashion , translated by Joachim Wachtel, Bertelsmann, 1967/1977: p. 271.
  12. ↑ For the house. Practical weekly paper for all housewives . 1890, ISSN  1864-5259 , Clara von Studnitz.
  13. ↑ Smallest waist , Guinness World Records online, English, accessed September 29, 2018
  14. ↑ Smallest waist - living (tightlacing) , Guinness World Records online, English, accessed September 29, 2018