The Truth About Corsets

The corset is one of the most famous and controversial pieces in dress history, surrounded by stories of pain, restricted breathing, organ or bone removal, and disease. For this essay, the focus will be on the Victorian and Edwardian eras (1837-1910) because these are the typical eras associated with corsets by people in the modern era. However, corsets originally date back to ancient Minoan times and evolved to become part of the way women dressed throughout history. When discussing historical dress and corsetry in particular it’s important to know who wore it, why it was worn, and how it was made so that the essential context of the garment in question is not missed, and its place in history and historical value can be determined. Starting with who wore them, corsets were not just worn by the rich and fashionable but by women of all classes and sometimes even men. The how comes to light when realizing that the corset subsequently had to take many forms to suit different bodies and uses. Typically the corset was custom-made for each person so that they could function normally within society because of the many unique measurements, tasks, and body types that exist within humanity. But what does functioning in society mean to the Victorian or Edwardian? This could include any number of daily tasks from working in the fields to hosting social events in one’s home. The corset was as essential as underwear during these periods, part of everyday wear for women, and functioned as the precursor to the bra since it had not yet been invented to provide support. They also allowed women to achieve the fashionable silhouette of the time, which was wide shoulders and hips with a smaller waist, all of which answers the why. It’s at this point in the context of corsets where people normally get angry, they spout half-truths and paint the corset as a feminist symbol of patriarchal oppression and self-torture. These misunderstandings, that corsets are painful and that women were forced to wear them, are severe perversions of history and truth. They need to be corrected so that people can better understand the women of the past and learn valuable lessons from them. 

Bernadett Banner is well known in the historical fashion community on YouTube using her channel to teach others about historical dress and of course talk about her opinions on corsetry. Having been a student of fashion at NYU, The School of Historical Dress in London, and even working on Broadway she is properly qualified to explain the nuances of corsetry to her audiences. Bernadette addresses the complexity of this topic in a video essay titled Comparing Modern to Victorian Corsets (and why not all corsets are ok), published on March 20, 2021. Here she starts by saying that both sides of the issue on corsets have merit, Bernadette explains that of course not all corsets are bad, but when you use them incorrectly or wear one that is ill-fitting to the body and personal needs the experience will not be a good one. When done correctly, she clarifies, corsets can be a comfortable historical experience, a person need only find one that works for them. She then goes on to discuss the differences between modern and historical corsets pointing out the benefits and losses of each one, how historical ones may fit a person better because they are tailor-made to the body, but that modern ones can also work for some people especially if they don’t mind the discomfort. Bernadette then tackles the fact that the desired silhouette between our time and Victorian or Edwardian eras is different. In historical times the silhouette was one of large busts, shoulders, and hips, with a small waist. While today the fashionable silhouette is typically smaller all around, people are less comfortable with larger bodies in the modern era. Because of this modern corsets can be restricting causing the idea that they cause pain to the wearer, while historical ones can be very flexible allowing for full movement and even gaps in certain areas for comfort. 

Corsetry is complex and more nuanced than being a device the patriarchy used to oppress and torture women. Too many people, including celebrities and influencers, think that corsets are symbols of pain and men’s historical dominance over women when this is simply untrue. What they fail to realize is that just like a pair of shoes or even a bra there are many different types and each is made for different uses and bodies. Just like someone would not dismiss the concept of shoes after wearing one pair that hurt them, the concept of a corset should not be dismissed as painful and archaic, worn only by women who didn’t like how they looked and wanted to impress men. Bernadette alludes to all of this when she says, “Historical corset makers understood the wide variety of different body shapes and demands that an undergarment would have to comply with its wearer” (5:37). She makes this point to show that a corset should not be uncomfortable, that historically they were made with the wearer and its use in mind as opposed to modern-day mass manufactured corsets. Also, the main function of a corset was an undergarment, whereas today the main purpose is to slim the body into a specific silhouette. These points directly disprove what mainstream society believes about corsets, they show that when worn and constructed properly, meaning body type and use in mind, the corset-wearing experience should not be painful, nor was it ever forced on women by men. Rather they were typically rather comfortable and not only served to achieve the fashionable silhouette of the time but gave structure to clothing that is done today with the modern bra. 

Furthering the claim that the 2 main most people use against corsets are untrue, Bernadette tackles the first one in another video published on March 2, 2019, titled I Grew Up in a Corset. Time to Bust Some Myths (Ft. Actual Research). Here, she explains that the main myth surrounding corsets is how they cause a slew of medical problems. Including but not limited to Pneumonia, fainting spells, dizziness, bruising, and rib and organ removal. She then disproves these myths using real sources, showing that not only is there no documented proof of this but that there has never been showing that corsets cause many of these issues. She then goes on to explain why people think this way, introducing the concept of patriarchy tight-lacing. She tells the audience about how it can be dangerous, that it was very rarely done, and that the reasons we see such smaller waists in dresses or media left over from the Victorian and Edwardian eras are the same reason most fashion models are tall and skinny. That was the ideal silhouette of the time even if it wasn’t the average silhouette most people had. Finally, Bernadett correctly recounts how historically corsets were worn every day, how they were made to fit each person and their needs, and that they were not typically painful.

This point is perfectly expressed in the video, where she says: “I won’t claim that there aren’t any inevitable harmful effects as with any sort of extreme body modification as with tight lacing- but we must remember that tight lacing was not commonplace and was not synonymous with corsetry in general” (15:37).  And, “It must also be pointed out that there is no definitive evidence that many of these abundantly claimed effects were solely and specifically caused by tight lacing” (15:48). Bernadette points out here that the harmful effects people say come from corsets would come from the practice of tight lacing, which is when a corset’s lacing is pulled tighter than normal, and that this practice was not common. This means that when a corset is worn the way it is meant to be worn it should not cause pain and this has been proven by science. 

In addition, the second claim that women were forced to wear corsets by men is addressed in the description of a corset by the Smithsonian as part of a collection in the National Museum of American History. This specific corset is a women’s corset that comes from the 1810s-1820s, for an unknown woman in Indiana. The description provides background on why corsets were worn during this period and explains why this specific piece is unique in dress history. Explaining that women wore them as essential undergarments, it functioned as an early version of the bra which did not exist yet. They then describe that in earlier periods (like the 1700s) women wore heavily boned corsets that would provide more structure and support, but this corset was more flexible using a smaller amount of boning and relied more on cotton cording (a technique that stiffens the fabric). It then goes on to explain the lack of complexities in the corset proving that it could have been made at home by the wearer easily. All of this can be summed up in this quote from the description, “However, the woman who wore this garment used it simply to support her chest (the brassiere would not be invented for another century)…If laced correctly, the wearer would have left a gap of several inches between the back edges of the corset, preventing it from being ‘tight-laced’”(Smithsonian). The description proves that the original purpose of a corset was not to make women look pretty for men, but rather it was a real functional piece of clothing. And that it was not usually laced tight enough to achieve the insane measurements that slim the figure as dramatically as people imagine. 

All of these sources work together to disprove the myths that corsets cause physical harm and were used to oppress women throughout history. They largely say the same thing, that corsets are complex pieces of dress history and although not all of them are good, when made and worn correctly they should not be painful unless a slimmed-down figure is the purpose of wearing one. They talk about body image and how sometimes the purpose of the corset is to be painful which is ok as long as the wearer knows their limits and is expecting the results. Also historically this was not the purpose of corsets, rather they were functional clothing that everyone regardless of class, status, or job wore. They touch on the reasons that people think this way bringing up the concept of tight lacing and repeating that this was not normal for the time, even saying that it was precisely because it was so shocking that we see so much historical evidence that suggests it happened. Essentially they explain that corsets are ok to wear and the fact that women wore them should not be so shocking, that we could learn a lot about how we structure clothing and the development of clothing from them. 

The history of corsets is long and complicated, people believe all sorts of things about them including that they can hurt and that they were used to oppress women. The Smithsonian and several videos from Bernadette Banner a fashion historian explain why this is not true and why people might think this way. They show that more people need to look deeper into the things they detest and learn about them to make sure they are detesting the right things for valid reasons. Corsetry is complex for the same reason humans are complex, we are all unique with different body types and needs and therefore there are different types of corsets to fit those body types and needs.