Le courte histoire du corset

In the 1830's, the corset was thought of as a medical necessity. It was believed that a woman was very fragile, and needed assistance from some form of stay to hold her up. Even girls as young as three or four, and probably directed by the best motives, were laced up into bodices.

Gradually these garments were lengthened and tightened. By the time they were teenagers, the girls were unable to sit or stand for any length of time without the aid of a heavy canvas corset reinforced with whale bone or steel. The corset deformed the internal organs making it impossible to draw deep breath, in or out of a corset. Because of this, Victorian women were always fainting and getting the vapors.

Women were thought of as the weaker sex, therefore their minds and bodies were weak. So the corset was deemed morally and medically necessary. Tight lacing was considered virtuous - a loose corset was probably a sign of a loose woman. To keep her innocence and virtuosity, a lady had to be chaperoned everywhere she went. She could not read or see any plays lest it excite her imagination. Even Shakespeare was thought unsuitable for ladies. A woman needed to protect herself from lustful men (and her own morality) by wearing heavily reinforced layers of clothing and tight corsets that made getting undressed a long and difficult task.

Working-class women (except when dressed for special occasions) did not go through the discomfort of wearing tightly laced corsets. They wore looser corsets and simpler clothes, with less weight. The higher up in class a lady was, the more confining her clothes were. This was because they didn't need the freedom to do household chores. Paid servants took care of such cumbersome matters.



The corset is an interesting garment, which to most people in our modern world seems a very strange piece of underwear. We have all heard about the times when women were encased in long stiff corsets, reduced to nothing but objects of beauty, unable to perform any task. This is, however, only a part of the historical facts about that time - and about corsets.

When talking corsetry, the most interesting period of fashion is the period from 1820 to about 1910. But the corset is much older than that. In Europe, it has been in general use as an undergarment since the middle ages, but it probably dates several thousands of years back. The corset has at all times been used for shaping the body, most often for compressing the waist, but sometimes for raising the bust.

The most widespread use of corsets was in the 19th century. Contrary to common belief, almost all women of every class wore corsets in those times. Fashion was formed by the upper class, so they were the primary users of the 'fashion devices' like corsets and the crinoline, but the working classes followed the trends of fashion to as high a degree as possible. For example, the Courtaulds Company instructed its workers in 1860, that: "The present ugly fashion of hoops or crinolines ... is ... quite unfitted for the work of our factories. ... We now request our hands at all factories to leave hoop and crinolines at home." [Steele, p. 75].

A compelling question is of course, how tightly were the corsets laced? There are many reports of waists between 18 and 14 inches - even 12 inch waists are mentioned. [Steele, p. 163] However, it is believed that most accounts of these very small waists represent fantasies. Measurements of corsets in museum collections indicate that most corsets of the period 1860 to 1910 measured from 20 to 22 inches. Furthermore, those sizes do not indicate how tightly the corsets were laced. They could easily have been laced out by several inches, and probably were, because it was prestigious to buy small corsets. So ordinary corsets were not so tight after all, and contrary to common belief, the construction of the corset with the metal busk for front closure and the lacing in the back, enabled the bearer to lace herself in. She did not need a maid or husband to help her. As an analogy in our time, we have several degrees of plastic surgery. There are the subtle cosmetic procedures on the face, a slight breast lift and then there are the extreme breast augmentation and lip plumping. But between enhancement and radical transformation, as in plastic surgery, it was more commonly the former.

Severe tight-lacing was practiced, and some corsetieres specialized in cultivating very small waists. Some men developed a fetish for small waists, a fetish which was regarded as quite acceptable. Small waists and the corset probably played about the same role as full breasts and the Wonder bra play today

                                Return of the corset 

Cluch Purse

A clutch purse is a women's accessory designed to hold a few necessities like a driver's license, a cellphone, and a credit card. Clutch purses are designed to be carried by hand, some have a detachable chain or leather strap so they can also be worn hanging from the shoulder. There are many different styles of clutches, and some form of small purse has been used since the Babylonian era, though specific styles have gone in and out of fashion since then. In modern times, they're most often used as evening bags.

  Clutches come in a huge variety of shapes, makes, and styles, all of which can vary between brands and seasons. They come as little square boxes, in triangles or heart shapes, covered with satin, beads or brocade. They are fastened with tassels, loops, and other fanciful decorations. Leather or vinyl clutches are available for less formal events when a smaller purse is still desirable. They range in price from $10 US Dollars (USD) up, depending on design.

Art Nouveau "jewelry from fairytales"

Art Nouveau jewelry created in France, Belgium, and other parts of Europe by a select group of avant-garde artists at the close of the nineteenth century was revolutionary. It reinvigorated what had become a formulaic naturalism with new forms drawn from outside sources, including the arts and crafts movement in Great Britain and the arts of Japan. The jewelry was also remarkable in that it redefined notions of preciousness. Platinum and diamonds, the preferred materials for high-style jewelry, were abandoned in favor of gold, enamel, colored gemstones, horn, and glass.


 


One of the major influences on Art Nouveau was the Symbolist Movement, which began in the 1880s. Imagery adopted by this group combined religious mysticism with eroticism. Art Nouveau combined inspiration from this source with some of the elements of Arts and Crafts philosophy; it is also highly varied and asymmetrical which reflected the political unease of the period. Art Nouveau, traces of which are discernible in the art of the Pre-Raphaelites and even in that of the 18th-century visionary poet William Blake.


 Art Nouveau concentrated on the treatment of surface decoration. It is also characterised by long curving lines based on sinuous plant forms, and an element of fantasy. It was primarily a decorative style and as such was used particularly effectively in metalwork, jewellery, and glassware, and in book illustration, where the influence of Japanese prints is often evident. Another ubiquitous presence is the femme fatale - the seductive nymph of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

                     

 

Vivienne Westwood always young

Personifies the patent and subversive originality of British fashion.Her continual exploration and reinterpretation of history, combined with a tireless individualism, has cemented her reputation as the UK’s most culturally significant fashion designer. Her expansive body of work traces the socio-economic and cultural climate of Britain over the past four decades, and a cursory glance through her archive also highlights the paradox of her career: an ascent from teenage rebellion through luxury and decadence to global commercial success  
<3Westwood was also inspired by 18th century paintings, ceramics and literature and spent time studying the paintings of the Wallace Collection and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s archive in London. In Portrait (1990-1), Westwood used a photographic print of Francois Boucher’s Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess on corsets and shawls. Always On Camera (1992-3) contained the Gainsborough Blouse which mimicked the delicate brushstrokes of the 18th century British portraitist’s work. Her considered reinterpretation of tradition came through again in Anglomania (1993-94). Westwood created her own clan (the traditional extended family and social unit of Scottish society) and tartan (the woven wool check identified with that unit), MacAndreas, named after her third husband and collaborator, Andreas Kronthaler. That McAndreas is displayed at Lochcarron Museum of Tartan in Scotland alongside time-honored traditional tartans is a very significant accolade to be bestowed on a contemporary designer.

<3Today, Westwood’s a global empire comprises the semi-couture line Gold Label, a ready-to-wear line Red Label, Vivienne Westwood Man and the diffusion line Anglomania. She has perfumes – Boudoir, launched in 1998 and Libertine, launched in 2000 – as well as successful ranges of knitwear and accessories. British Designer of the Year twice, in 1990 and 1991, honoured with the Order of the British Empire in 1992 and made Dame Vivienne Westwood in 2006, she has drawn uncommonly wide acclaim from the extremes of the street and the establishment. Whether she is ridiculing the ruling classes, shocking the public or overtly sexualising women, Westwood continues to sustain the ultimate design contradiction: producing the unexpected while defining the spirit of the decade.

Red lips for black days

My first day on my new blog