Corslet

“ Many also prefer shoulder-straps for the stays of growing girls, which keep the chest expanded, and prevent their leaning too much on the busk. If these are not too tight they are very advantageous to the figure, and the upper part of the corset should just fit, but not be tight. A corset made on these principles will cause no injury to health, unless the girl is naturally of a consumptive constitution, in which case no one would think of lacing at all tightly. ”

“ For they have not gone to the root of the matter, and have not realised that In the modern dress of woman the corset is an essential factor. From the point of view of dress, the human body consists of three portions. There is an upper part with bony walls—the chest; a lower part with bony walls—the pelvis; and a middle part with soft anterior and lateral walls between the two. Consider the dress of a labouring man! He wears a coat and waist­coat which he removes when at work. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is so much the fashion among medical men to cry down tight-lacing that advocates are very daring who venture to uphold the practice. It has ever been in vogue among our sex, and will, I maintain, always continue so long as elegant figures are admired, for the wearing of corsets produces a grace and slenderness which nature never gives, and if the corset is discontinued or relaxed, the figure at once becomes stout and loose. The dress fits better over a close-laced corset, and the fullness of the skirts, and ease of its folds, are greatly enhanced by the slenderness of the waist. ”

“ The requirements of all would be then met, for although numbers of ladies prefer the front-fastening corset, it will be observed that a great number of those who have written on the subject, and make the formation and maintenance of the figure a study, positively declare from experience that the waist never looks so small or neatly proportioned as when evenly and well laced in the hind-lacing and close-fronted form of corset. ”

“ 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 ”

“ It is reserved to our own time to demonstrate that corsets and tight lacing do not necessarily go hand in hand. Distortion and feebleness are not beauty. A proper proportion should exist between the size of the waist and the breadth of the shoulders and hips, and if the waist is diminished below this proportion, it suggests disproportion and invalidism rather than grace and beauty.
8. The perfect corset is one which possesses just that degree of rigidity which will prevent it from wrinkling, but will at the same time allow freedom in the bending and twisting of the body. ”

“ It seems to me that nearly all those who suffer from tight-lacing do so from an injudicious use of the corset, and in such cases the unfortunate corset generally gets all the blame, and not the wearer who makes an improper use of it. I can easily understand that a girl who is full grown, or nearly so, and who has been unaccustomed to wear tight stays, should find it difficult and painful to lace in her waist to a fashionable size ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Whitfield and other medical men, who contend that stays and corsets are bad things, and in the course of this chapter show that, properly constructed, corsets are, as articles of dress, the most useful and in every sense the most beneficial that can be constructed—that is, of course, when they are properly adapted to the body; for if, either through ignorance or a mistaken idea of fashion, the construction be faulty, and a compression of the chest ensue, why, then, undoubtedly it is far better to be without corsets altogether. ”

“ Numbers of corsets sixteen inches at the waist, and even less, are made in each of these cities every day. In the large provincial towns, both at home and abroad, corset-makers follow out the rules laid down by fashion. We are disposed to think, therefore, dealing with the evidence before us, that a lady of medium stature and average breadth of shoulder would be subscribing to the laws of fashionable taste if the circumference of her waist was not more than from seventeen to nineteen inches, measuring outside the dress. ”

“ They may fancy in this way there is no sudden compression of the waist, and the figure gets more easily accustomed to tight-lacing. Occasionally, in France, ladies who are very particular about their figures have their corsets made in three pieces, laced down the sides as well as behind, and cut away over the hips; the holes for the laces are very numerous and close together. This form of corset offers great facilities for the most perfect adjustment to the figure, as well as power of tight-lacing when required, and perfect ease in walking or dancing. ”

“ The concern of this writing is to dem­onstrate the principles governing the con­struction of the corset--the most im­portant garment worn by women--which must conform to the laws of physiology or it is radically wrong and a serious detri­ment to the bodily efficiency of the race. Not only has the suffering from the physi­ologically incorrect corset devolved upon the foolish women who for generations have voluntarily submitted to varying de­formities of the body, that they might dress in prevailing modes, but it has fallen upon all those with whom they have been asso­ciated. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It will be seen that the shoulder, upper part of the arm, and figure are those of a well-formed female, who wears an unmistakable corset, tightly laced, and stiffened by two busks in front, from one of which the lace, with a tag at the end, depends. The head, wings, tail, feet, and claws are all those of a demon or fiend. ”

“ In the United States of America the ladies often possess figures of remarkable slenderness and elegance, and the term "illusion" is not unfrequently applied to a waist of more than ordinary taperness. In a great number of instances the custom above referred to would be found to have mainly contributed to its original formation. The way in which doctors disagree on matters relating to the corset question is most remarkable. ”

“ The lighter the material used in the body of the corset, if it is firm, the more ease and elasticity it will give to the figure. The present mode is to give a straight line from the breast bone to the toes. When a proper Spirella Corset has been selected and the woman has learned to put it on properly, it will be perfectly comfortable. It will not draw her body out of shape, but will simply make the most of her natural grace and beauty. ”

“ What Style of Corset is the Least Injurious?—From the nature of the structure of the chest and abdomen and the functions of respiration, circulation, digestion, and the pelvic organs, the wearing of any style of corset must be more or less detrimental to the health and vigor of woman, and a perfectly developed woman, in perfect health, does not need a corset if she lives under normal conditions of dress and life ”

“ No sooner has the novelty of this new shape of woman worn off than we are informed by the creators of fashions that it will be fashionable for women to have rounded abdomens. and corsets, therefore, are being advertised which "curve inward over the diaphragm" and "round outward over the abdomen," and the young women who pose as fashion models upon whom the new styles of gowns are exhibited are even wearing a pad to simulate a prominence of the abdomen which has not yet been produced by the corset. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Your correspondent says that ordinary corsets, if drawn in well at the waist, hurt a woman cruelly all the way up. I can only say that if she finds such to be the case the remedy is in her own hands. If ladies would only take the trouble to have their stays made to measure for them, and have plenty of room allowed round the chest, not only would the waist look smaller, but no discomfort would be felt such as H. W. describes. Young girls should always be accurately fitted, but it is, I have found, a mistake to have their corsets too flimsy or elastic. ”

“ I would therefore recommend the early use of a corset that fits the figure nicely and no more. Now, simply wearing stays that only fit, will, when a girl is growing, in a great measure prevent the waist from becoming clumsy. If, however, on her reaching the age of fourteen or fifteen, her waist be still considered too large, a smaller corset may be worn with advantage, which should be gradually tightened till the requisite slimness is achieved. ”

“ A frequent source of it is the mode of fashionable dress adopted by females. The corset, to which I allude, when worn only with moderate firmness, and by those not otherwise predisposed to Phthisis, serves but to add elegance and beauty to the female figure; but when applied with the object of converting into a delicate and slender waist, one naturally otherwise, it cannot but do injury. By immoderate pressure, it converts a well formed chest into the deformed and narrow one, or at least an approximation to it, which has just been described. ”

“ SELECTION OF THE PROPER CORSET.— There is no article in the woman's wardrobe which gives the average woman more concern than her corset, and why not? The corset is the very foundation over which are molded beautiful gowns for all occasions which delight the hearts of both men and women. If the corset is not right, the gown will be a failure. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Corsets.— At this period of life it is particularly necessary that the clothing should be warm and at the same time sufficiently loose to prevent the constriction of any part of the body. And whatever the adult woman may elect to do in the matter of wearing corsets herself, she does her young daughter an irreparable injury by constricting and moulding her growing body in these corset-splints. Corsets placed on the young girl interfere with the functions of circulation, respiration, digestion, and of the pelvic organs, also with muscular development. ”

“ The Influence of the Corset on the Female Body.—As a result of the four hundred years in which the corset has molded the plastic form of woman, she has become physically so degenerated that it is necessary to have recourse to the artifices of the modiste in order to have even the appearance of a good figure, and the support afforded by the corset to maintain the erect position. ”