Valerie Steele has definitely done the most extensive and reliable research
on corsets and the social factors revolving around them. I agree that her
books are best for this information. If anyone is looking for an online
source, visit www.clotheslinejournal.com  There is an article on many of
the common costume myths floating around out there. I wrote it for
interpretors and others to clear up many of the misperceptions that
surround clothing. I hope it can answer questions and provide further
sources for research for those who are interested.

Elizabth Walton






At 04:24 PM 5/14/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Lynne-
>you may want to read Valerie Steele's books "Fetish" and "Corsets" on the
>subject.  She points out that many of those letters were written to
>specialty magazines and were about as true and accuraate as Penthouse Forum
>letter would be considered today (think what future researchers of human
>sexuality will make of those).
>-Alisa
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Lynne Ranieri" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 3:47 PM
>Subject: Re: corset misconceptions?
>
>
>>   I have been surprised by the discussion of corsetry and tight lacing, as
>> three reasons came to mind for my belief that tight lacing was not as
>> infrequent as is being suggested.  Before I address them I would have
>> hastened to agree that overly-tight lacing seems contrary to reason, but
>so
>> does the foot-binding that was fashionable in...was it just China?  That
>> certainly seemed as unreasonable as tight corsetry, but it seems to have
>> been quite pervasive nonetheless.
>>    The first thought that came to mind when this thread started was a
>memory
>> of my (rather slight) grandfather complaining very bitterly -- and
>> humorously -- about all having to lace my (not-so-slight) grandmother into
>> her corset.  He vividly described how he hated that daily chore of
>stuffing
>> her into the corset and lacing her as tightly as he could..  My related
>> memory of my grandmother is of hugging her and feeling her
>tightly-compacted
>> mid-section and of her ramrod-straight posture.  I can't remember ever
>even
>> seeing her bend over, because of her corset.
>>    The second thought that occured to me is that I frequently mount pieces
>> of my vintage clothing collection on mannequins at home and at our small
>> historical society museum and I long ago gave up on buying normal-sized
>> figures on which to display them.  I only use "junior" size because so few
>> pieces have a "normal" waistline and I am unable to completely close most
>of
>> them, at the waist, on a medium-sized mannequin.  In fact, I measured the
>> waist of one astonishing ca. 1870 wedding gown and it was thirteen inches.
>>    The last memory I had was of an item that I read in the book "Corsets
>and
>> Crinolines" by Norah Waugh.  On page 141 is an excerpt only noted as being
>> from some (regrettably unattributed) 1867 "Correspondence":
>>
>> "I was placed at the age of fifteen at a fashionable school in London, and
>> there it was the custom for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one
>inch
>> per month until they were what the lady principal considered small enough.
>> When I left school at seventeen, my waist measured only thirteen inches,
>it
>> having been formerly twenty-three inches in circumference.  Every morning
>> one of the maids used to come to assist us to dress, and a governess
>> superintended, to see that our corsets were drawn as tight as possible.
>> After the first few minutes every morning I felt no pain, and the only ill
>> effects apparently were occasional headaches and loss of appetite.  I
>should
>> be glad if you will inform me if it is possible for girls to have a waist
>of
>> fashionable size and yet preserve their health.  Very few of my fellow
>> pupils appeared to suffer, except the pain caused by the extreme tightness
>> of the stays.  In one case where the girl was stout and largely built, two
>> strong maids were obliged to use their utmost force to make her waist the
>> size ordered by the lady principal -- viz., seventeen inches; and though
>she
>> fainted twice while the stays were being made to meet, she wore them
>without
>> seeming injury to her health, and before she left school she had a waist
>> measuring only fourteen inches, yet she never suffered a day's illness.
>> Generally all the blame is laid by parents in the principal of the school,
>> but it is often a subject of the greatest rivalry among the girls to see
>> which can get the smallest waist, and often while the servant was drawing
>in
>> the waist of my firend to the utmost of her strength, the young lady,
>though
>> being tightened till she had hardly breath to speak, would urge the maid
>to
>> pull the stays yet closer, and tell her not to let the lace slip in the
>> least.  I think this is a subject which is not sufficiently understood.
>> Though I always heard tight-lacing condemned, I have never suffered any
>ill
>> effects myself, and, as a rule, our school was singularly free from
>> illness."
>> Lynne
>>
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