It is useless in this analysis to touch more than in the briefest manner possible upon the corset of history. Recent writers upon the subject have dug it from the tombs of antiquity and drawn it from the legends of mythology and brought it down through the ages in all its variations, including the iron corset invented by the infamous Catherine, shown in illustration 2, and while interesting, these facts are not essential to this discussion. Only the corset as it exists in the memory of those still living need be considered in pointing out the methods for improving that of the present day.
Medical annals for scores of years are bountifully supplied with writings and illustrations concerning the physiological evil of tight lacing—the fundamental crime of the corset—which seemed to reach the limit of possibility between forty and fifty years ago, and continued with little variation for over thirty years. The waists of the fashionable women of England from 1860 to 1870 were often of such small dimensions that they were easily spanned by the two hands, while France boasted of "finishing schools" for young ladies where the pupils were graduated with eleven-inch waists. Little girls of seven were laced into corsets as tightly as two grown persons could pull the strings and these corsets were worn day and night. In 1893-4 there was sold in this country the corset shown in illustration 3, as "the corset which produced the ideal feminine form." The advertisement accompanying this illustration reads: "This shape is, so to speak, classical, for it will always be the greatest favorite among fashionable women.
Distinctive qualities:
Well studied, plastic form,
Extreme softness of wearing,
Unlimited Durability."
