The development history of corsets

People's obsession with thin waists has tortured women for thousands of years. The tightly girded waist size of the snake priestesses in the murals unearthed in Crete made them as strong and plump as melons. The breasts are pushed up to the chin. The history of Western conceptions of female beauty has been pulled back and forth like a saw blade through vastly different periods: with and without bellies. The ancient Greeks and Romans favored naturally flat bellies (plus small breasts and perky hips). After the Black Death in 1348, people began to worship the hourglass figure. “When some women wear wigs and low-cut shirts in public, and let their breasts be tied up so high that a candle can be placed directly on their breasts, who would doubt that human nature has been broken to hell? On the edge?” is how historian Matthew Venelon describes the frantic pursuit of pleasure among those who survived the Black Death.

In the ancient Greek and Roman period, women regarded nature as their beauty, so at that time there would never have been a corset, a garment that changed women's natural body shape to achieve a beautiful effect. In the Middle Ages, due to the shadow of religion that shrouded Europe, people avoided talking about female beauty. Therefore, corsets were not possible at that time. However, the tight-fitting thick vest that appeared in the Middle Ages can be regarded as the prototype of the corset that had a significant impact on the pattern of European women's clothing.

During the Renaissance, the emerging humanistic trend of thought opposed the authority of feudal theology. They observed problems with human beings as the center, replaced divinity with human nature, opposed the asceticism of the church, advocated the liberation of individuality, and emphasized benevolence and equality. concept. The thought, culture, art and other aspects of this period had a significant impact on clothing. Judging from the appearance of clothing, the emphasis and exaggeration of gender differences are the main characteristics of this period. The center of gravity of men's clothing is on the upper body, in the shape of an inverted triangle with a heavy top and a light bottom. The strong upper body and close fit of the lower body express the sexual characteristics of men; the center of gravity of women's clothing is on the lower body, in the form of an equilateral triangle with a light top and a heavy bottom. By exposing the chest , using a corset to contrast with the bulging skirt of the lower body to reflect women's sexy features. During the Baroque period in the 17th century, its artistic style was different from that of the Renaissance. It was full of vitality, dynamic, majestic, and placed great emphasis on decoration. In the second half of the 17th century, a corset with a highly decorative surface appeared in women's clothing - Corps Baleine, which made the slender upper body shape of the 16th century popular again.

Spanish-style women's clothing originated from the Renaissance (1550-1620). Spanish-style women's clothing not only exaggerates the lower body with the use of faquinguere (a primitive bustle), but also uses the waist-cinched corset "Basquine" (sleeveless corset with embedded whalebone) on the upper body. After plastic surgery, the waist was narrowed and the breasts were wrapped in an inverted triangle basque. As early as the 13th century, people had made a lot of efforts to emphasize the beauty of women's thin waists. However, the invention of the corset, which was actually used to slim the waist, was in the second half of the 16th century. It was from this time At that time, women's thin waist became an important factor in expressing women's sexy characteristics. Correspondingly with the increasing size of skirts that emphasized buttocks, women's waists were also tightened by corsets, and even iron bras appeared. The dowry of Caterina de' Medici, the wife of King Henry II of France (reigned 1547-1559), included an iron corset (as a side note, the leader of the Round Head Party in England later executed Charles King Cromwell wore this kind of iron corset under his clothes to prevent assassins from attacking. At that time, he was already equipped with muskets. This was probably the earliest body armor in the world.), that is. The queen was the first to wear this kind of iron bra which was originally used for medical purposes. This iron-armor-like bra is divided into two parts, front and back, with a hinge on one side and a hook on the other. Caterina believed that the ideal waist size was 13 inches (about 33 centimeters). Her waist was said to be 40 centimeters, while her cousin Mary Stuart's waist was only 37 centimeters.

Generally, the corsets of noble women were made of cloth. Around 1577, a corset called "Corps Pique" appeared, which was characterized by using more than two pieces of linen cloth. At the same time, a thin lining is often added in the middle, which is very thick and hard. In order to maintain the shape and achieve a mandatory waist-cinching effect, baleen is embedded longitudinally in the main parts of the front, side and back, and the tip under the center of the front is made of hardwood or metal. Made, this part is called "busc" in French and "busk" in English. There are also rod-like protrusions at the front and lower ends. The opening of the bra is in the center of the back or front, and is fastened with a rope or thin strap. There are hooks or thin straps on the inside of the lower edge of the Kor Pekai to connect to the Falchen Gail below, and hanging fabrics on the outside.

By the 16th century, the corset had a complete shape and became an independent component that shapes the three-dimensional shape of women's chest and waist. Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) of England at that time strongly advocated waist corseting, which influenced women's fashion at that time. Women's clothing during the Renaissance was famous for its slim waistline. Women who had just emerged from the Middle Ages when "shell-type" waistless clothing was popular, in order to highlight the curves of the body, corsets and bustles were used. Combine contrast to complete the slim-waisted look, allowing the rigid bodice and voluminous bustle to begin to pop. In the following Baroque period, women's clothing still had slim waists and protruding hips, and tights were still used, while bustles were once eliminated. Tights from this period had many baleen embedded at the waist, and the seams fanned out radially from the waist to the chest. People began to pursue the Greek spirit of freedom and democracy, and neoclassical women's clothing also learned from the styles of ancient Greek women's clothing. In the later imperial period, due to Napoleon's admiration for ancient Rome, he continued the neoclassical style and developed into linear women's clothing. Women briefly got rid of the constraints of corsets. But around 1810-1811, as Napoleon's court promoted gorgeous styles and attached importance to underwear, corsets quietly emerged again. The difference between the corsets at this time and the past is that they no longer have a lot of baleen embedded in them. Instead, they are made of several layers of twill cotton cloth stitched together with very dense stitches, or they are made of hard linen coated with glue to make a new type of corset that reaches the hips. corset. For plump breasts and buttocks, the technique of inserting slender triangular cloth is used to make them fit. The breasts are held up in the front, the waist and abdomen are tightened and flattened, and the center of the back is tied with a rope to have a shaping effect. Therefore, wearing Get more comfortable.

After the beginning of the unique New Romanticism era, women's clothing once again returned to the direction of pursuing the taste of the luxurious palace. The corset "corset" has become an essential tool for plastic surgery. The entire upper body is sewn to fit perfectly. It is usually tied at the back opening. If the front is open, hooks are used to fasten it. The decorative line that was pointed down at an acute angle in the front center of the clothes to emphasize the thin waist appears again. Corresponding to the second thought, the enlargement of skirts has also continued to intensify, and the number of petticoats has continued to increase, often reaching as many as five or six (the most is 30 layers). Men's clothing at this time also began to emphasize slim waists, and fashionable men also used corsets to shape their bodies (perverted!), and the whole look was pretentious.

During Napoleon III’s second imperial era, Engenie (1826-1920), the most beautiful woman in Europe and Napoleon III’s queen, led the new trend of women’s clothing with her elegant temperament and keen sense. The Locke Era has begun. People invented a new type of petticoat, crinoline (derived from the Italian crinolino), in which thin wire rings were added to the hard petticoat to make the ribs. The skirt no longer relied on the number of petticoats to expand, thus greatly reducing the number of petticoats. Corset corsets are naturally indispensable to match this. Some have an exaggerated hem of 15-20 cm from the waist on the corset, and the corset is also decorated with gorgeous decorations that echo the skirt. Since the Renaissance, during the more than three hundred years that corsets have been popular, in order to obtain a voluptuous figure, many girls from aristocratic families, under the supervision of their mothers, have planned and long-term corset activities since childhood. Just like the ancient Chinese people loved the "three-inch golden lotus", Westerners believe that beautiful girls must have a slender waist. It is said that there were abnormally thin waists of 13 inches and 14 inches in history. A British woman once wrote to a magazine describing her 16.5-inch waist. waist, and the editor wrote back: "I have found without exception that the girls with the smallest waists are the queens of the dance floor."

In order to achieve a slim waist, girls begin to wear corsets all day before they are physically immature, before they are fourteen or five years old at the latest, and only take them off when they go to bed at night. As a matter of course, the bra will become tighter and tighter. After years of hard work, although other parts of the body have developed normally, the waist is as thin as a bee. This is the so-called "Corset Education".

Revolutionaries opposed corsets

Because corsets represented the aesthetic taste and value orientation of the upper class at that time, they were often regarded by revolutionaries as a symbol of decadent life and values. Symbol (just like the revolutionaries in our country regard footbinding), so when the revolution breaks out, the corset will inevitably become one of the objects of the revolution. During the French Revolution, the corset, along with all aristocratic life and its paraphernalia, became a target of opposition to the revolutionaries. Just as American radicals later burned bras in the 1860s, French revolutionaries burned corsets in the 1890s.

“It is not pleasant to see a woman bound in two like a wasp,” said the French Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who set two goals for the French Revolution, That is freedom and nature. "The slenderness of the waist, like everything else, has its natural proportions and its size. If it goes beyond that range, it will definitely become a flaw. This flaw will be very shocking when you are naked. Therefore, why Must be beauty when wearing clothes?”

After the Bastille was captured, there was such a slogan posted everywhere in Paris: “Vous avez la liberte des cultes et celle du costume.” That is, Said: "You can worship freely and dress freely." However, with the advent of the empire and the restoration of the monarchy, corsets once again "oppressed" women. Fainting and loss of appetite were common ailments among well-bred women in the Victorian era. Revolution and counter-revolution, the corset has been given cultural and political connotations, becoming a symbol of decadent life. In 1856, France staged a satirical play called "The Loud Clothes", in which actresses put on exaggerated steel umbrella skirts to ridicule their clumsiness, cumbersomeness and confinement of the female body. Cartoonists also wrote Crino Lin painted it as a steel cage and satirized it.