8. Corsets, not bras. "By that I don't mean Victorian corseting," says Ms Goodman. "Corsets support your back as well as your chest, and don't leave red welts on your skin like bra elastic does. They made it hard to breath walking up hills, but I get short of breath doing that anyway. And most people feel sexy in a corset."I can only hope that this advice is taken to our nation's bosom.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
From Nature Blog comes a BBC story about a recreation of farm life in the 1620s. It included this bit of wisdom:
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4 comments:
It's not just walking uphill that's difficult in a corset. It's hard to turn or bend your torso as well. One has to either turn or bend one's whole body or one's head alone. The corset "bones" are arranged very neatly and comfortably for a person standing placidly and with a modicum of uprightness--one wrong move and you harpoon yourself at the lymphnodes and a boobie pops out.
I'm not sure if the 17th-century corsets were "boned" or if they were merely laced tightly.
In the latter case, they might function like those black nylon lower-back support garments that you see warehouse workers, etc., weariong.
Chas: It actually sounded as though she were wearing a corset without stays -- the only whalebone/ironmongery involved would be at the back. Something more like a girdle, so I think you're right to compare it to those support garments.
Even if the corset were boned, the fashion of the hourglass figure didn't arrive until rather later. So she needn't have been quite so compressed as a Victorian might have been.
Larissa: there are sport corset available, and have been since the Regency. As for "one wrong move... and a boobie", how do you think Victorian men made it through those interminable social occasions? Wagering when it would happen and to whom, that's how.
ohhhhh...I have so much to learn! Maybe Columbia has a graduate program on the subject....
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