On Jan 21, 2008 8:43 AM, SBC Museum <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I am working with my theater department on a short program featuring
> the character of a girl who would have been 13 in 1882.  They want to
> know if she would have been wearing a corset under her costume--and I
> have no idea!  Would it depend on whether she needed it or not, or
> were they traditionally worn when girls reached a certain age?

She would most definitely be wearing a corset. In the age of the
corsets, girls and boys started wearing them around 2. Boys stopped
wearing them around 5-6 but obviously girls continued to wear them.
The rationale for putting young children in corsets was to give them
proper posture hence both girls and boys wore them at a young age. In
fact, boys were dressed as girls up until about 5 or 6. The only way
to tell the difference in family portraits is that boys had shorter
hair or held "boy things" like a bow and arrow.

By 13, a girl would be thought of as a "young lady" and would be
training to be introduced to society at age 16 or so. Her clothes
would be more mature and be fitted like adult clothes so she would
need a corset. Her corsets would not be as heavily boned as adult
corsets but they would still give her the sillouette of the time.

For theater, you could get away with boning her costume to give her
the right shape and make her stand staright with her shoulders back,
as was proper for the time.

Deb

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