OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
"Madame Caplin has made the manufacture of Corsets a complete study, embracing at once the several designs of anatomy, geometry, drawing and mechanics. Every portion of her Articles is worked and modelled on the premises, and passes through her own hands; consequently the artist may be traced in all, and her system of measurement is at once perfect and infallible."—Court Magazine, June, 1843.
"MADAME CAPLIN'S CORSETS.—It is rarely that anatomical principles are applied to the fashioning of any article of ladies' attire, and still more rarely that they are applied, as we are assured on competent female authority, with such complete success as in the ingenious and very elegant articles named at the head of this paragraph. Madame Caplin is here on a short visit, and we earnestly invite our fair friends to avail themselves of the brief opportunity for paying her a call."—Manchester Chronicle, August 29, 1846.
"It is not easy to convey an adequate idea of the pleasure to be derived by" seeing Madame Caplin's specimens, and her admirable mode of measurement, and hearing her very instructive anatomical explanations. Our own friends are grateful to her, and we can, unreservedly, advise all ladies to give her a call."—Liverpool Mercury, Nov. 15, 1844.
"Madame Caplin has combined such means as have neither of these inconveniences, and which have met the approbation of the gentlemen to whom they have already been submitted; uniting flexibility and lightness, they afford a gentle support, while, on the other hand, by the combination of Geometrical lines, the corsets are made outwardly to the shape corresponding to the other side of the figure."—Polytechnic Review, Feb. 3, 1844.
"Madame Caplin has studied carefully, for many years, the anatomy of the body. This enables her to know precisely how to adapt her Corsets and Bodices to the human figure. She makes nothing at random; but adapts, in every case, what is worn on the body to the person who is to wear it. This knowledge of anatomy places her at the very top of her profession, for she can give ease and elegance united. How we could enlarge upon this, did space permit!
"That the Medical Profession approve the invention, is 'something.' That a Grand Medal, at the 'Exhibition of all Nations,' was awarded Madame Caplin, is 'something.' That she has a very large connection, is 'something.' But we go beyond all this. We have seen and proved the value of the invention; and this enables us to speak of it in terms of unqualified praise."—Kidd's Own Journal, Jan. 7, 1854.
"On a recent occasion" (see vol. iv., p. 368) "we penned an article on the still too prevalent custom of confining the female figure in a cruelly narrow prison of whalebone and steel; and we directed special attention to the unceasing efforts of Madame Caplin (Berners Street) to effect a reform in this matter. We dwelt at much length, too, on the manner in which this is effected; and showed how many thousands of lives were saved annually by the exercise of only a little common sense. Unfortunately, this last commodity is not the reigning 'fashion;' hence its banishment from society! We are pleased to see that Dr. Tilt quite takes our view of this great question, and that Madame Caplin's almost superhuman efforts to bring people to reason are not lost upon him. Philanthropists are not met with every day, and they deserve the encouragement of all good men and women—alas, how few!"—Review of Dr. Tilt's Work, in Kidd's Own Journal, April, 1854.
"We were also much gratified in inspecting the models and numerous inventions which were exhibited by Madame Caplin at the Great Exhibition, and where she received the only prize granted in the United Kingdom for adaptations of this kind. They are twenty-three in number, commencing with infancy, and following the different phases of woman's life up to old age. Among this collection are included corsets, belts, contractors, and supports of every description; but we now speak more particularly of the contracting belt, which we consider a great desideratum with regard to ease and comfort, as it embraces the whole of the lower part of the body, and can be regulated at will by the wearer. It is strictly anatomical in its construction. The front is composed of elastic, in which are inserted medicated plates, thus combining perfect support and elasticity."—Ladies' Newspaper.
"The perfect outline of the human body is so well delineated, that it proves at once the capability of that lady to adapt corsets to the most delicate figure, on scientific principles, which are the only ones adaptable to the human frame. We advise ladies to inspect the various inventions exhibited by Madame Caplin, and judge for themselves of the improvements made in this important department,"—Morning Post, July 4, 1851.
"In this sense Madame Caplin's collection is well worthy of attention, as everything that mechanical art, directed by medical science, could do to render the corset consistent with health has there been brought into requisition, so as to render it an object not merely of fashionable but of sanitary interest."—Daily News, Aug. 4, 1851.
"The 'Hygienic' corset embraces every attainable advantage; and, were the principle more generally adopted, a great evil would be obviated. We commend the invention of Madame Caplin as an unprecedented exhibition of female skill." —Globe, July 22, 1851.
"Madame Caplin, 58, Berners Street, Anatomical Corset Manufacturer. Class 20, No. 32, and Class 10, No. 370.—In the useful article of female attire, known as the corset, but little general practical improvement appears to have been hitherto made: and it was in vain that we looked among the specimens of our continental neighbours, hitherto deemed the leaders of fashion in this article: but fashion, it would appear, is greatly at fault, aiming at the making, instead of preserving, a figure; a mode in which the undue and unnatural compression tends to produce pulmonary diseases and consequent shortening of life. The specimens exhibited by this artiste are constructed upon anatomical principles, with a view to effect the desideratum of adding elegance and grace to the human body, and rendering this article, usually one of discomfort, a really useful and beneficial support."—Morning Advertiser, July 17, 1851.
"Madame Caplin clearly proves that at all ages it is requisite to protect the body from the weight of the under-clothing. This appears to be her great argumentative point-and it seems to us to be by far the most rational suggestion we have ever heard upon the subject."—Ladies' Newspaper, Sept. 11, 1851.
