Christian Dior once said: "Without a corset, there is no fashion." This scandalous toilet item took comfort from women, in return giving beauty and hellish appeal. No matter how they overthrew him from the top of the fashion, he always returned triumphantly. And as a result, it was the most fetishable fetish of a ladies' wardrobe.
Origin and types of corset. The parody of the corset appeared another 4.5 thousand years ago on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Residents of the island of Crete tightened their waist leather belts. For greater strength, metal plates were inserted in them. Men such designs were protected from enemy swords, women were given grace.
In the gloomy Spain of the XV century asceticism was the norm of life for everyone. To the feminine curves of the body did not remind of the sinful, the ladies tied themselves in solid metal corsets, the weight of which could reach 25 kilograms! Iron carapace made the figure completely flat - no hint of chest, and the waist, according to proprieties, was pulled together up to forty centimeters.
The classic version of the corset appeared in Italy in the sixteenth century. Made of wood and metal inserts, it has become more elegant and beautiful than in the old days. Abundantly decorated with embroidery and precious stones, the corset began to be worn over the dress, demonstrating the wealth of its owner. At the same time, the French queen Catherine de 'Medici introduced the standard of the waist circumference of her retinue - 13 inches (just over 33 centimeters). The lady who exceeded the official limit could not even appear at court. And if the corset tightened the waist by more than 33 centimeters, it was clear that before you - a high-ranking person.
In the middle of the XVII century, the corset was no longer flattening, but emphasized the high raised chest and rounded hips. In place of iron and wood came whalebone. It tightened around the body, forming an ideal posture. French sensuality has become the property of the upper world. The corset could now only be worn by noblewomen. They also introduced a new whim - to tighten the waist up to a size equal to the grasp of the neck of the lover.
The 18th century was the time of revolutionary upheavals in life and fashion. The great humanist Jean-Jacques Rousseau called for a return to the ancient simplicity and abandon unnatural elements of clothing. With the presentation of enlighteners, Europe was swept by the fashion for dresses-chitons. But already at the beginning of the XIX century the French monarchy again found itself on the throne, regaining its lost luxury, and the women corsets.
Since that time, the female silhouette has changed its outlines for each model season. The chest then rose, it was made flat, the waist line was then inflated, then returned to the place. It depends on the cut of clothes and the change in the ideal of female beauty. In the 70 years of the XIX century, another form of corset was invented - the length to the hips. Squeezing the lower abdomen, the frame was tightened so tightly that the silhouette resembled the letter S. There was no question of bending over or eating an extra piece. The first step towards the elimination of the corset was the reform of the fashion king in Paris, Paul Poiret, in 1905 he styled dresses on the type of men's shirts. Under these outfits, special light and flexible graces of rubber were worn - "corsetts".
The last rise in popularity corset survived in the 1950s, when the new look style, created by Dior, returned fashion to the "wasp waist". This direction lasted only a decade. In the stormy '60s "children of flowers" even a bra was considered "a harness that destroys a woman". Corset, it seemed, finally came out of mass use.
But everything changed again in the 1980s. The image of a woman with a tight laced waist, previously symbolizing chastity and obedience, suddenly became the embodiment of daring sexuality.
Since then, corsets are not out of fashion. They just exist in parallel with her, from time to time appearing on the catwalks.