corset

—corsetless, adj.

/kawr"sit/, n.

1. Sometimes, corsets. a close-fitting undergarment, stiffened with whalebone or similar material and often capable of being tightened by lacing, enclosing the trunk: worn, esp. by women, to shape and support the body; stays.

v.t.

2. to dress or furnish with or as if with a corset.

3. to regulate strictly; constrict.

[1225-75; ME < AF, OF, equiv. to cors bodice, body + -et -ET]

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Article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the torso.

It dates to at least с 2000 BC, when it was worn as an outer garment by men as well as women in Minoan Crete. In the 16th–17th century it was worn to flatten the chest and was reinforced with wood. Some outer corsets were jeweled and elaborately embroidered. After 1660 they were shaped to accentuate the breasts. In the 19th century the corset, now reinforced with whalebone or metal, changed with the style of dresses; over-tight lacing of corsets was blamed for numerous health problems. The corset was abandoned in the 1920s, when looser-fitting, straight clothes came into fashion, and in the 1930s it was replaced by the brassiere and girdle, made of elastic materials, and by the one-piece corselette.

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▪ garment

 article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the waist and support the bosom, whether as underclothing or as outer decoration.

 The corset first developed in 16th-century Spain and was made of two pieces of cloth, laced together in the front by a vertically-placed pair of wooden or bone rods (a device known as a busk) and reinforced elsewhere with whalebone stays. First associated with the aristocracy, it was adopted by bourgeois (bourgeoisie) women by the 18th century. During these eras, it molded the upper body into a V-shape and pushed the breasts up. After the French Revolution it went out of fashion because of the ascendancy of Directory and Empire fashions, which were high-waisted; the corset regained its fashionability about 1815.

      Corsets of the 19th century were shaped like an hourglass and were reinforced with whalebone and metal. Working-class women wore cheap mass-produced corsets. Although polemics against tight corsets are common in literature from the late 17th century onward, corsets continued to be worn until the 1910s, when fashion began to emphasize a slender straight figure. In the late 1930s there was an attempt by designers to bring back the boned corset, but World War II cut short most fashion innovations. In the 1950s the guêpière, also known as a bustier or waspie, became fashionable.

      During the 20th century the corset was gradually replaced as everyday wear by the brassiere and the girdle, but it remained in use as costume wear and among those engaged in certain forms of body modification (body modifications and mutilations).

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