Editing Corset (section)

==Uses==
===Fashion===
As the form and purpose of the corset constantly evolved throughout its time as a standard undergarment, there is no way to definitively state how it was worn. While the original purpose of stiffened undergarments was to avoid creasing more costly, highly adorned outer garments,<ref name="V&A-2023">{{Citation |title=Stays and busk |date=1660–1680 |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O10446/stays-and-busk-unknown/ |access-date=2023-07-30}}</ref> the most common and well-known use of corsets is to slim the body and make it conform to a fashionable silhouette. 

==== 16th and 17th centuries ====
[[File:A pair of stays.JPG|thumb|262x262px|Pair of stays, c.1780s. [[Fashion Museum, Bath]], England. ]]
In the [[Tudor period]], corsets, known then as "bodies", were worn to achieve a tubular straight-up-and-down shape, which involved minimizing the bust. These bodies, worn by women and men, were common into the 16th and 17th centuries and achieved their stiffened shaping with materials including steel, wood, or whalebone. They were constructed of two parts and fastened at the sides.<ref name="Cummings-2017">{{Cite book |last1=Cummings |first1=Valerie |title=The Dictionary of Fashion History |last2=Cunnington |first2=C. W. |last3=Cunnington |first3=P. E. |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2017 |edition=2nd |location=London |pages=33, 71}}</ref> Bodies evolved into the stays of the 17th century.<ref name="V&A-2023" /> Stays shaped the body to fit the desired silhouette, which, for example, in the 1780s resembled an inverted cone shape. They an also ensured good posture and the appearance of smooth contours – the central aim of such undergarments of this period, rather than exaggerating the bust and waist.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=Stays |date=1780s |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O10456/stays-unknown/ |access-date=2023-07-30}}</ref>

==== 19th century ====
During end of the 1700s up until the 1820s, in reflection of the neoclassical style of dress, the demi-corset or short stays became popular,<ref name="Cummings-2017" /> as the [[Empire waist|empire line]] of fashionable gowns did not require support or shaping to the waist. These garments ended at or just above the waist, supporting the bust without providing shaping to the rest of the torso. 

[[File:Invicorator belt.gif|thumb|upright|Advertisement of corsets for men, 1893]]
For men, corsets were sporadically used to slim the figure. From around 1820 to 1835—and even until the late 1840s in some instances—a [[wasp waist|wasp-waisted figure]] (a small, nipped-in look to the [[waist]]) was also desirable for men;{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} wearing a corset sometimes served to achieve this. However, by the mid-1800s onward, men's corsets fell out of favor, and were generally considered effeminate and pretentious.<ref name="Summers-2001" />{{Rp|page=227}}

After the early 1800s, the [[wasp waist]] silhouette came into vogue for women, and the advent of steel eyelets and boning allowed for stronger, more durable corsets that could create greater reductions in waist size. This period saw the creation of the curvaceous, nipped-in corsets that we most commonly associate with the term "corset" today.<ref name="Steele2" />

During the 19th century, all infants generally wore some kind of stiffened waistband, and female children were transitioned to the corset at some point before or during adolescence.<ref name="Steele2" /> In some cases, mothers started their daughters wearing corsets in early childhood. ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the practice in its Fashion section in 1881.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 June 1881 |title=The Fashions for Summer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-the-fashions-for-summ/157958743/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>{{quote|From the time an infant wears dresses, a kind of broad belt is used, with shoulder pieces. To this, the child's undergarments are buttoned. Little girls wear these until they are about 7 years of age. From this time, the belt has rather more shape, and the back part is supported on both sides by a whalebone or a very soft steel spring. From the age of 10 to 12 years, another bone is added in the back. Corsets for young ladies have busks, narrow whalebones, and very soft steel springs. Ladies' corsets of satin or other material have jointed busks, and are drawn in over the hips, making the front of the corsets very long.}}

An "overbust corset" encloses the torso, extending from just under the arms toward the hips. An "underbust corset" begins just under the breasts and extends down toward the hips. A "longline corset"—either overbust or underbust—extends past the [[iliac crest]], or the hip bone. A longline corset creates the appearance of a longer torso and narrower hips. This style was common during the 1910s, when slim hips came into vogue, and later evolved into the elasticated [[Girdle (undergarment)|girdle]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lane |first=Lydia |date=11 August 2021 |title=The Changing Silhouette of Victorian Women's Fashions – The History of the Corset |url=https://www.eriehistory.org/blog/the-changing-silhouette-of-victorian-womens-fashions-the-history-of-the-corset |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Hagen History Center |language=en-US}}</ref> A "standard" length corset stops short of the iliac crest. Some corsets, in very rare instances, reach the [[knee]]s. A shorter kind of corset that covers the [[waist]] area (from low on the ribs to just above the hips), is called a ''[[waist cincher]]''. A corset may also include [[Garter (stockings)|garter]]s to hold up [[stockings]]; alternatively, a separate [[garter belt]] may be worn.

[[Image:GoodSenseCorsetWaists1886page153.gif|thumb|Advertisement of corsets for children, 1886]]
A corset supports the visible dress and distributes the weight of large structural garments, such as the [[crinoline]] and [[bustle]]. Light linen or cotton shifts (also called chemises) were worn beneath corsets to absorb sweat and protect the corset and wearer from each other, and also to function as underwear and protect other garments from the wearer and their sweat. This is in part due to difficulties laundering these items: laundering would reduce the lifespan of an otherwise long-lasting garment and, during the 19th century, the steel boning and metal eyelets could rust if washed regularly. The other primary purpose of the chemise is to prevent chafing from the stiff, sometimes coarse materials used in corsets. At times, a corset cover is used to protect outer clothes from the corset and to smooth the lines of the corset. The corset cover was generally in the form of a light chemisette, made from cotton lawn or silk. Modern corset wearers may wear corset liners for many of the same reasons. Those who lace their corsets tightly use the liners to prevent burn on their skin from the laces.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="220">
File:Bianca LyonsCUT.jpg|Actress Bianca Lyons shows the exaggerated female curves achieved by corsets and padding, c. 1902
File:1898Das Album6.png|A woman models a corset in 1898
File:Calkins-corset-ad-1898.jpg|An award-winning advert from the back cover of the October 1898 ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]''
File:Edith (Amanda Nielsen).jpg|[[Amanda Nielsen]] in a corset
</gallery>

===Fetish ===
{{See also|Charles Guyette|Bondage corset|Tightlacing}}
Aside from fashion and medical uses, corsets are also used in [[sexual fetishism]], most notably in Bondage/Discipline/Sado-Masochism ([[BDSM]]). In BDSM, a [[Submissive (BDSM)|submissive]] may be required to wear a corset, which would be laced very tightly and restrict the wearer to some degree. A [[Dominant (BDSM)|dominant]] may also wear a corset, often black, but for entirely different reasons, such as aesthetics. A specially designed corset, in which the [[breast]]s and [[vulva]] are exposed, can be worn during "[[vanilla sex]]" or [[BDSM]] activities. Dress historian [[David Kunzle]] argues in his work ''Fashion and Fetishism'' that historical usage of the corset had a fetishistic dimension as some wearers reported feeling sexual pleasure from the use of the garment, and the corseted waist was highly sexualized by men and women alike.<ref name="Kunzle-2006" />

===Medical===
A [[Back brace#Corset brace|corset brace]] is a [[lumbar]] support that is used in the prevention and treatment of lower-back pain. They can also be prescribed to patients healing from spinal surgery. A corset brace resembles a historical corset, but is typically made with elastic fabric and plastic boning to allow for more flexibility. Metal boning may be used if more rigidity is needed.<ref>[https://www.cochrane.org/CD001823/BACK_lumbar-supports-for-the-prevention-and-treatment-of-low-back-pain Lumbar supports for the prevention and treatment of low-back pain]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hawkinson |first=Nicola V. |date=15 May 2019 |title=Corsets: A Type of Spinal Brace |url=https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/back-pain/corsets-type-spinal-brace |website=HealthCentral}}</ref> Artist [[Andy Warhol]] was shot in 1968 and never fully recovered; he wore a corset for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-01-06 |title=Warhol: Biography |url=http://www.warhol.org/collection/aboutandy/andyfaq/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106165536/http://www.warhol.org/collection/aboutandy/andyfaq/ |archive-date=2013-01-06 |access-date=2017-11-10}}</ref>