Corselet

“ And the battle, that brings death to mortals, bristled with long spears which they held for the rending of flesh, and eyes were blinded by the blaze of bronze from gleaming helmets, and corselets newly burnished, and shining shields, as men came on confusedly. ”

“ No one, we apprehend, would be likely to deny that, to enable the fairer portion of the civilised human race to follow the time-honoured custom of presenting to the eye the waist in its most slender proportions, the Corset in some form must be had recourse to. Our information will show how ancient and almost universal its use has been, and there is no reason to anticipate that its aid will ever be dispensed with so long as an elegant and attractive figure is an object worth achieving. ”

“ Corset, 1910 told in all the dress news of the day that "fashion says no hips." Corset makers then tried to obliterate every normal curve of the body and make women's forms as nearly as possible like the little wooden effigies of Noah of our childhood memory, and the fash­ionable corset was made as shown in illustration 8. In all these changes of the form of women's bodies there has been no reason, no common sense. ”

“ The well-formed youths and graceful [10] belles of the tribe were not slow in discovering that, when arrayed in all the panoply of forest finery, a belt well drawn in, as shown in the annexed illustration, served to display the figure to much greater advantage than one carelessly or loosely adjusted. Here, then, we find the first indication of the use of the corset as an article of becoming attire. At the very first dawn of civilisation there are distinct evidences of the use of contrivances for the reduction and formation of the female figure. ”

“ Such being the case, it becomes a matter of considerable importance to discover by what means the desirable end can be acquired without injury to the health of those whose forms are being restrained and moulded into proportions generally accepted as graceful, by the use and influence of the Corset. It will be our duty to lay before the reader the strictures of authors, ancient and modern, on this article of dress, and it will be seen that the animadversions of former writers greatly exceed modern censures, both in number and fierceness of condemnation. ”

“ As, however, these markings on the thorax and wings are hardly visible to the naked eye, they give the Corixa a generally brownish and shiny appearance. Of the legs, six in number, the hind pair are most used in swimming. They are somewhat flattened at their extremities to a paddle shape, and are fringed with hairs. I have seen the hind legs of the Corixæ when the insects have been suspended motionless in mid-water, standing out at right angles on each side of the body; and as in the imitation I am about to describe, the legs take this position when the fly is at rest or sinking in the water ”

“ Until fashion, in its ever-changing round, returns to the costume of Ancient Greece or Rome, we can never expect to persuade ladies not to compress their waists merely on the score of beauty; and as several of your correspondents have shown that a moderate compression is not so injurious as some supposed, there is no chance of the corset becoming an obsolete article of female dress. It has been in use for seven or eight hundred years, and now that its form and construction are so much modified and improved, there need be no longer an outcry against it ”

“ The advisability of training instead of forcing the figure into slenderness is now becoming almost universally admitted by those who have paid any attention to the subject; yet it appears from the following letters, which appeared in the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine of January and February, 1868, that the corset, even when employed at a comparatively late period of life, is capable of reducing the size of the waist in an extraordinary manner, without causing the serious consequences which it has so long been the custom to associate with the practice of tight-lacing. ”

“ Support Without Restraint
¶ Corset boning is not the main factor in supporting the flesh. It is the cloth that holds the flesh in place. The honing acts mainly to keep the cloth stretched and free from wrinkles. This will be welcome news to many women who have cased themselves in heavy, steel jackets under the mistaken idea that only thus could they give themselves a good figure. To these, the lightness of Spirella boning will give a wonderful relief. In its extreme flexibility it yields with every movement of the body without pressure that hurts. ”

“ Every person skilled in corset making knew the necessity of such variation. In Johnson's description, it was asserted that the shape or contour of his corset was formed in the weaving; so far, therefore, as that was effected by the relative length of the pockets, it was dependent upon the loom. The description left to the manufacturer to determine what should be the length of each pocket, in order to secure the elegance and graceful contour of sewn corsets; in other words, to determine before the weaving where the double portions or slots should be stopped off. ”

“ In short, it is now generally admitted, and I, for one, freely allow, that moderate compression of the waist by well-made corsets is far from being injurious. It is really absurdly illogical for the opponents of the corset to bring forward quotations from medical writers of the last century, for the animadversions of Soemmering are still quoted. Let us, however, merely look at facts as they at present stand; statistics prove that there are several thousand more women than men in the United Kingdom. ”

“ A thorough knowl­edge of the corset business and a wide experience in meeting many ladies who have long been handling the corset trade behind the counter or by direct solicitation, convinces us there are less than one hundred real corset artists in the United States outside of The Spirella Company's Corsetieres. If you will investigate the various stores in your town where corsets are sold outside of a few of the larger cities you will seldom find a corset artist, or one who knows even the mere rudimentary prin­ciples of corset fitting behind the corset counter. ”

“ The corslet of a warrior has broad shoulder pieces, and is decorated with three stars, like "the decorated starry corslet" of Achilles. [29] These stars appear on an Assyrian corslet in Layard's Monuments. There is a belt and a mailed kirtle or mailed flaps; below appears the tight cypassis, not the flowing chiton.
Next, in a Corinthian black figure vase (Atlas, fig. 45) the charioteer wears the plain corslet of two plates with projecting rim (no zoster and mitrê) ; the dress is a tight jerkin. The women wear large mantles over what appear to be long tight-fitting chitons. ”

“ At the period of the discovery of some of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, it was found customary for all young females to wear a peculiar kind of corset, formed of spirally-arranged rattan cane, and this, when once put on, was not removed until the celebration of the marriage ceremony. Such races as were slowly advancing in the march of civilisation, after discovery by the early navigators, became more and more accustomed to the use of clothing, to adjust and retain which, waistbands would become essentially requisite. ”

“ The proportions of our Standard Corsets are correct for the individual type of figure for which each one is built, and as every woman is anxious to approach as nearly as she may to the ideal figure, it is well to order the Standard Corset whenever it is possible. We can make a corset to fit any figure perfectly, whether it is regular or irregular, if the customer is willing to pay for the extra work and expense necessary in making a Special or Custom Corset. ”

“ But we ask why, if an editor or rhapsodist went through the Iliad introducing corslets, he so often left them out, where the critics detect their absence because they are not mentioned?
The spear of Idomeneus pierces another feeble corslet over the victim's belly (XIII. 506-508) . It is quite a surprise when a corslet does for once avail to turn an arrow (XIII. 586-587) . But Aias drives his spear through the corslet of Phorcys, into his belly (XVII 311-312) . Thus the corslet scarcely ever, by itself, protects a hero; it never protects him against an unspent spear ”

“ It will be seen by these statistics and remarks that, unlike certain other articles of raiment which have reigned in popular esteem for a time, and then passed away, the corset has not only become an established institution throughout the whole civilised world, but is of immense commercial importance, and in rapidly-increasing demand and esteem. ”

“ The annexed illustrations are carefully sketched from a very excellent [201] specimen of this form of corset or bodice, kindly lent us for the purpose by Messrs. Simmons, the well-known costumiers of Tavistock-street, Covent Garden, by whom it has been preserved as a great curiosity. The materials used in its construction are very strong, whilst every part the least liable to be put out of form is literally plated with whalebone, making its weight considerable. The lace-holes are worked with blue silk, and are very numerous and close together. ”

“ Your fair readers may rest assured that what is said against stays at the present day is merely the lingering echo of prejudice, and is quite inapplicable now-a-days to the light and elegant production of the scientific corsetière. As a medical man (and not one of the old school) I feel perfectly justified in saying that ladies who are content with a moderate application of the corset may secure that most elegant female charm, a slender waist", without fear of injury to health. ”

“ In its preparation we have combined the knowledge, suggestions, observations and experience of men and women ripe in the arts of Corset Making, Corset Fitting, Adjustment and Salesmanship. Our Designer has devoted many years to corset making and corset designing. He is assisted by an able corps of men and women in close touch with the needs of the day, of wide experience and rare culture in the art of corsetry. Our Chief Cutter, Department Heads and Fore-ladies in the Factory have worked years to perfect themselves and are experts in their lines. ”

“ He shot forth into a region of fresh life, with body and mind rejoicing, the world growing young to eyesight cleared by sea magic. A good swimmer, Corsant put his power into a few strokes, found it all there again ready at call, and then went romping forward, burying his face for mere wantonness, and staring down through the cool green void where sunshine faded into quivering mist and network shadows. ”

“ For my own part I have always paid particular attention to the figures of the young ladies intrusted to my care, and being fully convinced that if the general health is properly attended to, corsets are far from being the dreadfully hurtful things some people imagine. I have never hesitated to employ this most important and elegant article of dress, except in one case where the pupil was of a consumptive tendency, and I was specially requested not to allow her to dress at all tightly. ”

“ My own, and a wide range of other experiences, leads me to a totally different conclusion, and I fully believe that, except in cases of confirmed disease or bad constitution, a well-made and nicely-fitting corset inflicts no more injury than a tight pair of gloves. Up to the age of fifteen I was educated at a small provincial school, was suffered to run as nearly wild as could well be, and grew stout, indifferent and careless as to personal appearance, dress, manners, or any of their belongings. ”

“ That small waists are the fashion admits of no doubt, for I have myself applied to several fashionable corset-makers in London and the principal fashionable resorts to ascertain whether it be the case. I gather from their information that small waists are most unmistakably the fashion; that there are more corsets made to order under eighteen inches than over that measurement; that the smallest size is usually fifteen inches, though few possess so elegantly small a waist, the majority being about seventeen or eighteen inches ”

“ Corixæ vary much in size, the largest and one of the commonest species being the Corixa geoffroyi, which is about half an inch long. In all Corixæ, the head is wide and is attached but slightly to the body. It is convex in front and concave behind, so as to fit the end of the thorax, and is as wide as the wings when folded and at rest. These insects possess four wings, which they frequently use, though they are somewhat clumsy in starting from the surface of the water. I have sometimes, however, seen them fly considerable distances. ”

“ Little alteration appears to have taken place in the general style of costume for some very considerable period of time, and the patrician ladies concealed beneath their flowing draperies a kind of corset, which they tightened very considerably, for a slight and tapering waist was looked upon as a great beauty in women, and great attention was paid to the formation of the figure, in spite of all that has been written about the purely natural and statuesque forms of the Roman matrons. ”

“ Caplin, who exhibited a Corset of a novel and ingenious construction, invented by Madame Caplin, of Berners Street, London. This Corset (ap­propriately designated Hygienic) , differs from all others in many important points: it affords a greater degree of support than can be acquired by any other means, expands the chest, favours the symmetrical development of the female form, and contri­butes, in a remarkable degree, to the general health. ”

“ As they grew older, the Corsair applied himself seriously to the cultivation of the fine natural abilities with which heaven had endowed them, and as he felt convinced there were some great mysteries attached to their birth, and the accident by which he had met with them, he desired, by his care of their education, to prove his gratitude to the gods for the present they had made him. ”