Corset controversy
The corset controversy concerns supporters' and detractors' arguments for and against wearing a corset. The controversy was contemporary with the time that corsets were popular in society. Corsets, variously called a pair of bodys or stays, were worn by European women from the late 16th century onward, changing their form as fashions changed. In spite of radical change to fashion geographically and temporally, the corset or some derivative beneath an outer gown would shape the body or provide structure.
There were brief periods in which corsetry was not part of mainstream fashion. In the 1790s, there was an abrupt change to fashion as the Empire silhouette became fashionable. During the following Regency era the highly supportive corsets of the early Georgian era were dismissed in favor of short garments worn primarily to support the breast and leave the waist and hips in their natural shape.
Beginning in the mid-1820s, women's fashion returned to the full skirts of the prior century. In a repudiation of the Empire silhouette, the waist became the central focus of female dress. The corset assumed the dominant role it would hold for the rest of the 19th century. Designed to emphasize the waist through minimizing it, corsets would constrict the waistline in order to achieve a slender silhouette. Doctors and much of the press deplored the garment in spite of continued use.
Criticism
Wearing corsets has been subject to criticism since the era of tight lacing during the prior century. Jean-Jacques Rousseau denounced the practice in The Lancet while cartoons of the period satirized the practice. However, by the 19th century, women were writing letters to publications expressing their views directly and articulately. The one-sided denunciation of the past turned into a dialogue. Women made their voices heard, sharing their experiences and their opinions, some in favor of the corset and even tight lacing, and some in disfavor of the restrictive garment. Newspapers and popular journals became the media for the exchange of hundreds of letters and articles concerning the corset.Known as the "corset controversy" or simply the "corset question", the controversy spilled over multiple publications, countries and decades. Of particular concern was the issue of tight lacing. The flow of articles and letters waxed and waned over time, reaching a crescendo in the late 1860s, which may be taken to be the peak of the frenzy. However, the issue surfaced long before and continued long afterward. Throughout this period, advertisements in the same publications promoted the sale of corsets with enthusiasm.In the United Kingdom, publications in which the controversy raged included The Times, Lancet, Queen, The Scotsman, Ladies Treasury, The Englishwomen's Domestic Magazine, and All the Year Round. In the United States, the Chicago Tribune commented that English journalists discussed both sides of the controversy "with very great fervor and very little common sense," though it published its own contributions. Other American newspapers and periodicals also participated, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the Hartford Daily Courant, the North American Review, and The Saint Paul Daily Globe. Other parts of the English-speaking world joined from time to time, reprinting articles from England and America, as well as contributing their own. Even provincial newspapers such as the Amador Ledger of California, the Hobart Town Courier, the Otago Witness, and the Timaru Herald of New Zealand had their say.
The line between wearing corsets in general and tight lacing in particular was never drawn precisely. Many detractors denounced both, obviating the distinction, while many advocates endorsed both. Additionally, many women who wore corsets denied that they tight-laced, adding confusion to the controversy. The West Coast Times wrote that "consequences of tight lacing are universally admitted," yet ladies' denial persisted. They preferred to claim that their small waist was "a gift of Nature" and that they wear a corset for "comfortable, if not necessary support."
Corsets and fashion
The dominant aesthetic of the mid-nineteenth century called for full skirts. Prior to the common wearing of the crinoline, several petticoats would be worn in order to provide this fullness. A corset, used to constrict the waist and create slenderness, could also accentuate a full skirt through comparison.The Saint Paul Daily Globe wrote of corsetry:
There were countless denunciations. Fashions that required a tiny waist were deemed oppressive. One such appeared in the Chicago Tribune
Yet some women professed to enjoy the practice. A letter to the Boston Globe reads
A reader wrote to The Toronto Daily Mail insisting that only those who had experienced tight lacing could understand its pleasures
The editor of the "Women's Chats" section of the West Australian advocated "tight lacing in moderation"
A corsetiere described how women might attain the desired waist size
Medical criticism
Doctors railed against the practice as decidedly harmful. Some women replied that tight lacing was actually beneficial as well as enjoyable, while other women responded to the critiques with wholehearted agreement, sometimes citing their own negative experiences. The following exchange, which took place during ten days in 1869 in the pages of The Times of London, gives a flavor of the discourse that volleyed back and forth for decades. The exchange was initiated by a note in the British medical journal, The Lancet, which was reprinted in The Times of London.A reader signing herself "Not a Girl of the Period" wrote a letter to The Times in reply
A reader, signing herself, Anti-Slavery countered
The Lancet felt compelled to reply as well, expanding on its medical arguments
Other readers wrote to extol the virtues of tight lacing
The distinguished anatomist William Henry Flower in 1881 published a book demonstrating by text and illustrations the deformities caused to female anatomy by corsets. This did not prevent his wife and four daughters from wearing them.
Mothers and daughters
It was expected that women would wear corsets and it was part of a mother's duty to her female offspring to have them wear the garment. Just how and when might depend on the mother, the daughter, the place, and the time. However, some things were much the same everywhere. Three examples, one from the American frontier of 1880, another from London in 1907, and a third from 1883 are variations on the theme.Laura Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote a series of children's books based on her childhood in a pioneer family. Little Town on the Prairie is set in 1880 in South Dakota in an area recently settled. Despite being on the frontier, the women and, in particular the girls, were expected to behave according to the norms of the times. Its 1941 publication date takes it out of the "discussion" period, but as it was written as a children's book for girls, its account is unlikely to be spurious or a fantasy, so it serves as a reliable testament of some of the more curious practices such as sleeping in corsets.
The family had four daughters, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace, the youngest. Mary, the eldest, tries on a dress that is found not to fit until her corset is laced more tightly, leading to the following exchange:
Readers wrote to The Gentlewoman describing personal experiences with tight lacing. For example,
In publishing this and other letters, the editor of The Gentlewoman admonished the writers:
There was no shortage of others who condemned mothers and daughters who participated in the practice. For example:
Childhood
In some cases, mothers started their daughters wearing corsets in early childhood. The New York Times described the practice in its Fashion section.An account from a young lady reads:
Mothers wrote letters describing their version of the practice. The following, published in the English periodical Queen, is typical.
Another letter, in the Boston Globe, is similar:
Teenage years
Mothers typically put their daughters into serious corsets in their teens or sometimes in the pre-teens. Some were uncertain as to when and how to begin tight lacing. They sought advice in their local newspapers, giving rise to heated discussions. One such exchange took place in the pages of the Toronto Daily Mail, from April to June 1883, in the Saturday section, "Women's Kingdom".A reader signing herself, "Corset", inquired:
The next Saturday, "Staylace" offered her experience:
A few weeks later, "Staylace" submitted excerpts from her niece's diary from the prior year.
Girls would seek relief from their stays at night and mothers would seek to prevent it. One reader, signing herself "Mother", wrote
"Kingston" offered her remedy:
"Common Sense" offered her own alternative:
Other readers took strong exception to these extreme measures. One expressed her indignation, while describing her own daughter's wearing corsets from the age of eleven, but in the 'daytime only':
Another objected entirely to corsets until the very end of the teens:
Other newspapers carried similar accounts. In fashionable London, tight lacing of teen aged daughters was a serious affair. The New York Times wrote:
School
In fashionable society, a girl was expected to have a suitably small waist. Girls' schools were preparation for society and some headmistresses treated that attainment as part of the girls' schooling. As the girl was not yet an adult, her opinion was not considered. A reader wrote to the editors of The Science of Health describing her experience.The West Australian printed excerpts from the diary of a school girl describing how figure training was accomplished.
How I shall be able to eat and move about I can’t think; but Madge O—, who left last term, and who was that size, said you feel awfully smart, and, in fact rather a pleasant sensation when you get used to the pulling in.
Three letters form a thread that illustrates the volleying back and forth. The first was written by a mother, surprised that the school acted on its own.
The daughter herself continued the account. Rather than deplore the practice, her remarkable conclusion was that tight lacing should be started at an early age.
A woman signing herself as a schoolmistress defended the practice as an "elegant article of dress". Her solution agreed with that of the young lady, commencing the practice at an early age.
One young lady looked back upon the practice with affection. Today, one might read these accounts with skepticism, but contemporary advertisements describe corsets as small as 15 inches.
That tight-lacing was enjoyable is a recurring theme. For example:
Others were proud of their training and saw it as the source of a fine accomplishment;
However, other young ladies recalled the practice with little fondness.
Marriage
There are many articles admonishing girls to abjure the custom of tight lacing and assuring them that no man they would want to marry had any interest in small waists. Typical of these is:shortly before her wedding, 1893
Another, entitled "The Absurdity of the Custom as Well as the Effect upon the Health of Slaves to the Fashion", begins:
Other articles suggested more dire consequences. A "Doctor Lewis" wrote
Whatever the doctors might say, young ladies laced down in preparation for their wedding, as evidenced by contemporary photographs. Moreover, some women laced down after their marriage to please husbands who fancied the practice. One such wife wrote:
These, with the assistance of my maid, I put on, and managed the first day to lace my waist in to eighteen inches.
A ladies maid recounted a similar situation:
She is tall, about 5 ft. 8 in, and well made, so you can imagine what a business it is pulling her in to 17 in; but she has a splendid figure when she is dressed.
A husband who fancied the practice wrote:
Fashion establishments
Girls working in "fashion establishments", as they were then called, wore corsets to suit the dictates of their employers. Tiny waists were required of employees to sell the then current fashions, much as size zero models are frequently used in fashion shows today.The editor of "The Ladies Page" of The Western Mail wrote
Fashion establishments were much the same in Paris:
The practice was described by a shopgirl:
Various writers condemned the practice, for example:
Another wrote:
One such shop girl certainly had her objections:
The dress reform movement
Advocates of dress reform deplored the impractical and restrictive fashions of the time. The bloomer dress was a mid-century attempt at rational clothing for women. It attracted considerable ridicule in the press and relatively few adopters. Other attempts at dress reform fared no better.Various dress reformers turned to the printing press. In 1873, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward wrote:
Louisa May Alcott devoted Chapter 18 of her 1875 young adult fiction, Eight Cousins, to advocating for dress reform in the form of the "freedom suit," which is described as being different from and more socially acceptable than bloomers. The young main character, Rose Campbell, is under the guardianship of her physician uncle Alec. However, her aunt Clara wishes Rose to dress appropriately to her position as an heiress, and one day gives her a fashionable outfit to try. Rose ultimately rejects it in favor of Alec's freedom suit, consisting of close-fitting pantaloons and shirt under a long-skirted petticoat and dress. Earlier in the novel, Rose had been wearing a tight belt to keep her waist small, which Alec insisted she stop doing for the sake of her health. When Clara tries to convince her to wear a corset, Alec is furious.
But dress reform had little mainstream impact. Fashion continued to emphasize the waist and, so long as it did, the corset continued to be regarded as an indispensable of dress. An unusually perceptive reformer described the situation in an address to the National Christian League in 1895. Her speech was reported in The New York Times:
It seemed that change would be glacially slow at best. A year later, The New York Times wrote:
End of the controversy
From 1908 to 1914, the fashionable narrow-hipped and narrow-skirted silhouette necessitated the lengthening of the corset at its lower edge. A new type of corset covered the thighs and changed the position of the hip, making the waist appear higher and wider. The new fashion was considered uncomfortable, cumbersome, and furthermore required the use of strips of elastic fabric. The development of rubberized elastic materials in 1911 helped the girdle replace the corset. This was the huge turnaround for the history of waist trainer.The corset controversy changed in the early 20th century when the world of fashion circled back to styles reminiscent of the Empire silhouette. Fashionable dress was fluid and soft, with flowing lines. What rational dress reform was unable to accomplish in decades of rhetoric, the wheel of changing fashion brought about almost overnight. The waist became unimportant and the waist-restricting corset lost its significance.
Paul Poiret was a leader in this movement. He replaced the corset with the hobble skirt, which, while equally restrictive, was different and thus readily adopted in an era eager for change. In his autobiography, Poiret wrote
The hobble skirt lasted but a few years, but its adoption marked the beginning of the end. Other designers such as Madeleine Vionnet, Mariano Fortuny, and Coco Chanel soon followed with simple comfortable fashions that freed the entire woman. With their adoption into mainstream fashion, the corset controversy receded into a historical curiosity.