General use of the word "stays" after 1600 in England--Costume
of the court of Louis XVI.--Dress in 1776--The formidable
stays and severe constriction then had recourse to--The stays
drawn by Hogarth--Dress during the French revolutionary
period--Short waists and long trains--Writings of
Buchan--_Jumpers_ and "_Garibaldis_"--Return to the old
practice of tight-lacing--Training of figures: backboards
and stocks--Medical evidence in favour of stays--Fashion
in the reign of George III.--Stays worn habitually by
gentlemen--General use of Corsets for boys on the Continent--The
officers of Gustavus Adolphus--The use of the Corset for
youths: a letter from a gentleman on the subject of--Evidence
regarding the wearing of Corsets by gentlemen of the present
day--Remarks on the changes of fashion--The term "Crinoline"
not new--Crinoline among the South Sea Islanders--Remarks of
Madame La Sante on Crinoline and slender waists--Abstinence
from food as an assistance to the Corset--Anecdote from the
_Traditions of Edinburgh_--The custom of wearing Corsets during
sleep, its growing prevalence in schools and private families:
letters relating to--The belles of the United States and their
"_illusion waists_"--Medical evidence in favour of moderately
tight lacing--Letters from ladies who have been subjected to
tight-lacing.
For some considerable period of time we find stays much more
frequently spoken of than corsets in the writings of English
authors, but their use continued to be as general and their form of
construction just as unyielding as ever, both at home and abroad.
The costume worn at the court of Louis XVI., of which the following
illustration will give an idea, depended mainly for its completeness
on the form of the stays, over which the elaborately-finished body
of the dress was made to fit without fold or crease, forming a sort
of bodice, which in many instances was sewn on to the figure of the
wearer after the stays had been laced to their extreme limit. The
towering headdress and immensely wide and distended skirt gave to
the figure an additional appearance of tenuity, as we have seen when
describing similar contrivances in former times. Most costly laces
were used for the sleeves, and the dress itself was often sumptuously
brocaded and ornamented with worked wreaths and flowers. High-heeled
shoes were not wanting to complete the rather astounding toilet
of 1776. For many years before this time, and, in fact, from the
commencement of the eighteenth century, it had been the custom for
staymakers, in the absence of any other material strong and unyielding
enough to stand the wear and tension brought to bear on their wares,
to employ a species of leather known as "_bend_," which was not unlike
that used for shoe-soles, and measured very nearly a quarter of an
inch in thickness. The stays made from this were very long-waisted,
forming a narrow conical case, in the most circumscribed portion of
which the waist was closely laced, so that the figure was made upright
to a degree. Many of Hogarth's figures, who wear the stays of his time
(1730), are erect and remarkably slender-waisted. Such stays as he has
drawn are perfectly straight in cut, and are filled with stiffening
and bone.
[Illustration: COURT DRESS OF THE REIGN OF LOUIS XVI.]
[Illustration: CLASSIC COSTUME OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY
PERIOD.]
In 1760 we find a strong disposition manifested to adopt the so-called
classic style of costume. During the French revolutionary movement
and in the reign of the First Napoleon, the ladies endeavoured
to copy the costume of Ancient Greece, and in 1797 were about as
successful in their endeavours as young ladies at fancy dress balls
usually are in personating mermaids or fairy queens. The annexed
illustration represents the classic style of that period. For several
years the ladies of England adopted much the same style of costume,
and resorted to loose bodies--if bodies they might be called--long
trains, and waists so short that they began and ended immediately
under the armpits. The following illustration represents a lady of
1806. Buchan, in writing during this short-waisted, long-trained
period, congratulates himself and society at large on the fact of "the
old strait waistcoats of whalebone," as he styles them, falling into
disuse. Not long after this the laws of fashion became unsettled, as
they periodically have done for ages, and the lines written by an
author who wrote not long after might have been justly applied to the
changeable tastes of this transition period:--
"Now a shape in neat stays,
Now a slattern in jumps,"
these "jumps" being merely loose short jackets, very much like those
worn under the name of "_jumpers_" at the present day by shipwrights
and some other artificers. The form of the modern "Garibaldi" appears
to have been borrowed from this. The reign of relaxation seems to have
been of a comparatively short duration indeed, as we see by the remark
made by Buchan's son, who edited a new edition of his father's work,
_Advice to Mothers_, and an appendix to it:--"Small" (says he) "is the
confidence to be placed in the permanent effects of fashion. Had the
author lived till the present year (1810), he would have witnessed the
fashion of tight lacing revived with a degree of fury and prevailing
to an extent which he could form no conception of, and which posterity
will not credit. Stays are now composed, not of whalebone, indeed, or
hardened leather, but of bars of iron and steel from three to four
inches broad, and many of them not less than eighteen in length."
The same author informs us that it was by no means uncommon to see
"A mother lay her daughter down upon the carpet, and, placing her
foot on her back, break half-a-dozen laces in tightening her stays."
Those who advocate the use of the corset as being indispensable to the
female toilet have much reason on their side when they insist that
these temporary freaks of fancy for loose and careless attire only
call for infinitely more rigid and severe constriction after they (as
they invariably have done) pass away, than if the regular training of
the figure had been systematically carried out by the aid of corsets
of ordinary power. In a period certainly not much over thirty years,
the old-established standard of elegance, "the span," was again
established for waist measurement. Strutt, whose work was published
in 1796, informs us that in his own time he remembers it to have been
said of young women, in proof of the excellence of their shape, that
you might _span their waists_, and he also speaks of having seen a
singing girl at the Italian Opera whose waist was laced to such an
excessive degree of smallness that it was painful to look at her.
[Illustration: LADY OF FASHION, 1806.]
Pope, in the _Challenge_, in speaking of the improved charms of a
beauty of the court of George II., clearly shows in what high esteem a
slender figure was held. As a bit of acceptable news, he says--
"Tell Pickenbourg how _slim_ she's grown."
There is abundant evidence to show that no ordinary amount of
management and training was had recourse to then, as now, for reducing
the waists of those whose figures had been neglected to the required
standard of fashionable perfection, and that those who understood
the art were somewhat chary in conferring the benefit of it. In a
poem entitled the _Bassit Table_, attributed to Lady M. W. Montagu,
Similinda, in exposing the ingratitude of a rival beauty, exclaims--
"She owes to me the very charms she wears--
An awkward thing when first she came to town,
_Her shape unfashioned_ and her face unknown;
I introduced her to the park and plays,
And by my interest _Cozens made her stays_."
A favour in those days no doubt well worthy of gratitude and due
consideration.
About this time it was the custom of some fashionable staymakers
to sew a narrow, stiff, curved bar of steel along the upper edge
of the stays, which, extending back to the shoulders on each side,
effectually kept them back, and rendered the use of shoulder-straps
superfluous. The slightest tendency to stoop was at once corrected
by the use of the backboard, which was strapped flat against the
back of the waist and shoulders, extending up the back of the neck,
where a steel ring covered with leather projected to the front
and encircled the throat. The young lady of fashion undergoing the
then system of boarding-school training enjoyed no bed of roses,
especially if unblessed on the score of slenderness. A hard time
indeed must an awkward, careless girl have had of it, incased in
stiff, tightly-laced stays, backboard on back, and feet in stocks.
She simply had to improve or suffer, and probably did both. It is
singular and noteworthy that although so many of the older authors
give stays the credit of constantly producing spinal curvature,
an able writer on the subject of the present day should make this
unqualified assertion:--"To some, stays may have been injurious; fewer
evils, so far as my experience goes, have arisen from them than from
other causes." It is well known that ladies of the eighteenth century
did not suffer from spinal disease in the proportion of those of
the nineteenth, which might arise in some degree from the system of
education; but some highly-educated women of that period were elegant
and graceful figures, and it is well known they generally wore stiff
stays, though their make, it must be admitted, was less calculated to
injure the figure than many of those of the present day.
The author we have just quoted goes on to say--"Mr. Walker, in
ridiculing the practice of wearing stays, has chosen a very homely
and not very correct illustration of the human figure. 'The uppermost
pair of ribs,' says he, 'which lie just at the bottom of the neck, are
very short. The next pair are rather longer, the third longer still,
and thus they go on increasing in length to the seventh pair, or last
true ribs, after which the length diminishes, but without materially
contracting the size of the cavity, because the false ribs only go
round a part of the body. Hence the chest has a sort of conical shape,
or it may be compared to a common beehive, the narrow pointed end
being next the neck, and the broad end undermost; the natural form of
the chest, in short, is just the reverse of the fashionable shape of
the waist; the latter is narrow below and wide above, the former is
narrow above and wide below.' Surely, when the idea struck him, he
must have been gazing on a living skeleton, uncovered with muscle.
After reading his observations, I took the measure of a well-formed
little girl, seven years of age, who had never worn stays, and found
the circumference of the bust just below the shoulders one inch and
a-half larger than at the lower part of the waist." The views of the
author just quoted seem to be borne out by the researches of a French
physician of high standing who has paid much attention to the subject.
He positively asserts that "_Corsets cannot be charged with causing
deviation of the vertebral column_."
After the period referred to by Buchan's son, when tight-lacing was so
rigorously revived, we see no diminution of it, and towards the end of
George III.'s reign, gentlemen, as well as ladies, availed themselves
of the assistance of the corset-maker. Advertising tailors of the time
freely advertised their "Codrington corsets" and "Petersham stiffners"
for gentlemen of fashion, much as the "Alexandra corset," or "the
Empress's own stay," is brought to the notice of the public at the
present day. Soemmering informs us that as long ago as 1760, "It was
the fashion in Berlin, and also in Holland a few years before, to
apply corsets to children, and many families might be named in which
parental fondness selected the handsomest of several boys to put in
corsets." In France, Russia, Austria, and Germany, this practice has
been decidedly on the increase since that time, and lads intended for
the army are treated much after the manner of young ladies, and are
almost as tightly laced. It is related of Prince de Ligne and Prince
Kaunitz that they were invariably incased in most expensively-made
satin corsets, the former wearing black and the latter white. Dr.
Doran, in writing of the officers of the far-famed "Lion of the
North," Gustavus Adolphus, says, "They were the tightest-laced
exquisites of suffering humanity." The worthy doctor, like many others
who have written on the subject, inseparably associates the habitual
wearing of corsets with extreme suffering; but the gentlemen who, like
the ladies, have been subjected to the full discipline of the corset,
not only emphatically deny that it has caused them any injury, and,
beyond the inconvenience experienced on adopting any new article of
attire, little uneasiness, but, on the contrary, maintain that the
sensations associated with the confirmed practice of tight-lacing are
so agreeable that those who are once addicted to it rarely abandon the
practice. The following letter to the _Englishwoman's Magazine_ of
November, 1867, from a gentleman who was educated in Vienna, will show
this:--
"MADAM,--May I be permitted for once to ask admission
to your 'Conversazione,' and to plead as excuse for my
intrusion that I am really anxious to indorse your fair
correspondent's (Belle's) assertion that it is those who know
nothing practically of the corset who are most vociferous in
condemning it? Strong-minded women who have never worn a pair
of stays, and gentlemen blinded by hastily-formed prejudice,
alike anathematise an article of dress of the good qualities of
which they are utterly ignorant, and which consequently they
cannot appreciate. On a subject of so much importance as regards
comfort (to say nothing of the question of elegance, scarcely
less important on a point of feminine costume), no amount of
theory will ever weigh very heavily when opposed to practical
experience.
"The proof of the pudding is a proverb too true not to be acted
on in such a case. To put the matter to actual test, can any of
the opponents of the corset honestly state that they have given
up stays after having fairly tried them, except in compliance
with the persuasions or commands of friends or medical advisers,
who seek in the much-abused corset a convenient first cause for
an ailment that baffles their skill? 'The Young Lady Herself'
(a former correspondent) does not complain of either illness
or pain, even after the first few months; while, on the other
hand, Staylace, Nora, and Belle bring ample testimony, both
of themselves and their schoolfellows, as to the comfort and
pleasure of tight-lacing. To carry out my first statement as to
the truth of Belle's remark, those of the opposite sex who,
either from choice or necessity, have adopted this article
of attire, are unanimous in its praise; while even among an
assemblage of opponents a young lady's elegant figure is
universally admired while the cause is denounced. From personal
experience, I beg to express a decided and unqualified approval
of corsets. I was early sent to school in Austria, where lacing
is not considered ridiculous in a gentleman as in England, and
I objected in a thoroughly English way when the doctor's wife
required me to be laced. I was not allowed any choice, however.
A sturdy _mädchen_ was stoically deaf to my remonstrances, and
speedily laced me up tightly in a fashionable Viennese corset.
I presume my impressions were not very different from those of
your lady correspondents. I felt ill at ease and awkward, and
the daily lacing tighter and tighter produced inconvenience
and absolute pain. In a few months, however, I was as anxious
as any of my ten or twelve companions to have my corsets laced
as tightly as a pair of strong arms could draw them. It is
from no feeling of vanity that I have ever since continued
to wear them, for, not caring to incur ridicule, I take good
care that my dress shall not betray me, but I am practically
convinced of the comfort and pleasantness of tight-lacing, and
thoroughly agree with Staylace that the sensation of being
tightly laced in an elegant, well-made, tightly-fitting pair
of corsets is superb. There is no other word for it. I have
dared this avowal because I am thoroughly ashamed of the idle
nonsense that is being constantly uttered on this subject in
England. The terrors of hysteria, neuralgia, and, above all,
consumption, are fearlessly promised to our fair sisters if
they dare to disregard preconceived opinions, while, on the
other hand, some medical men are beginning slowly to admit that
they cannot conscientiously support the extravagant assertions
of former days. '_Stay torture_,' '_whalebone vices_,' and
'corset screws' are very terrible and horrifying things upon
paper, but when translated into _coutil_ or satin they wear a
different appearance in the eyes of those most competent to
give an opinion. That much perfectly unnecessary discomfort
and inconvenience is incurred by the purchasers of ready-made
corsets is doubtless true. The waist measure being right, the
chest, where undue constriction will naturally produce evil
effects, is very generally left to chance. If, then, the wearer
suffers, who is to blame but herself?
"The remark echoed by nearly all your correspondents, that
ladies have the remedy in their own hands by having their
stays made to measure, is too self-evident for me to wish to
enlarge upon it; but I do wish to assert and insist that, if
a corset allows sufficient room in the chest, the waist may
be laced as tightly as the wearer desires without fear of
evil consequences; and, further, that the ladies themselves
who have given tight-lacing a fair trial, and myself and
schoolfellows converted against our will, are the only jury
entitled to pronounce authoritatively on the subject, and that
the comfortable support and enjoyment afforded by a well-laced
corset quite overbalances the theoretical evils that are so
confidently prophesied by outsiders.
"WALTER."
Since it has become a custom to send lads from England to the
Continent for education, many of them adhere to the use of the corset
on their return, and of the use of this article of attire among the
rising generation of the gentlemen of this country there can be no
doubt; we are informed by one of the leading corset-makers in London
that it is by no means unusual to receive the orders of gentlemen, not
for the manufacture of the belts so commonly used in horse-exercise,
but veritable corsets, strongly boned, steeled, and made to lace
behind in the usual way--not, as the corset-maker assured us, from any
feeling of vanity on the part of the wearers, who so arranged their
dresses that no one would even suspect that they wore corsets beneath
them, but simply because they had become accustomed to tight-lacing,
and were fond of it. So it will be seen that the fair sex are not the
only corset-wearers.
[Illustration: FASHIONABLE DRESS IN 1824.]
[Illustration: LADY OF FASHION, 1827.]
During 1824, it will be seen by the accompanying illustration that
fashion demanded the contour of the figure should be fully defined,
and the absence of any approach to fullness about the skirt below
the waist led to the use of very tight stays, in order that there
might be some contrast in the outline of the figure. This style of
dress, with slight modifications, remained in fashion for several
years. In 1827, the dress, as will be seen on reference to the annexed
illustration, had changed but little; but three years, or thereabouts,
worked a considerable change, and we see, in 1830, sleeves of the
most formidable size, hats to match, short skirts, and long slender
waists the rage again. A few years later the skirts had assumed a
much wider spread; the sleeves of puffed-out pattern were discarded.
The waist took its natural position, and was displayed to the best
advantage by the expansion of drapery below it, as will be seen on
reference to the annexed cut. The term "crinoline" is by no means a
new one, and long before the hooped petticoats with which the fashions
of the last few years have made us so familiar, the horsehair cloth,
so much used for distending the skirts of dresses, was commonly known
by that name. It is not our intention here to enter on a description
of the almost endless forms which from time to time this adjunct
to ladies' dress has assumed. Whether the idea of its construction
was first borrowed from certain savage tribes it is difficult to
determine. That a very marked and unmistakable form of it existed
amongst the natives of certain of the South Sea Islands at their
discovery by the early navigators, the curious cut, representing a
native belle, will show, and there is no doubt that, although the
dress of the savage is somewhat different in its arrangement from
that of the European lady of fashion, the object sought by the use
of a wide-spread base to the form is the same. Madame La Sante,
in writing on the subject, says--"Every one must allow that the
expanding skirts of a dress, springing out immediately below the
waist, materially assist by contrast in making the waist look small
and slender. It is, therefore, to be hoped that now that crinoline
no longer assumes absurd dimensions, it will long continue to hold
its ground." The same author, in speaking of the prevailing taste
for slender waists, thus writes:--"We have seen that for many hundred
years a slender figure has been considered a most attractive female
charm, and there is nothing to lead us to suppose that a taste which
appears to be implanted in man's very nature will ever cease to render
the acquisition of a small waist an object of anxious solicitude
with those who have the care of the young." For several years this
solicitude has been decidedly on the increase, and many expedients
which were had recourse to in ancient days for reducing the waist
to exceeding slenderness, are, we shall see as we proceed, in full
operation.
A very sparing diet has, as we have already seen, from the days of
Terentius, been one great aid to the operation of the corset.
There is a very quaint account to be found in the _Traditions of
Edinburgh_ bearing on this dieting system. An elderly lady of fashion,
who appears to have lived in Scotland during the early part of the
last century, was engaged on the formation of the figures of her
daughters, stinted meals and tight corsets worn day and night being
some of the means made use of; but it is related that a certain
cunning and evil-minded cook, whose coarse mind only ran on the
pleasure of the appetite, used to creep stealthily in the dead of
night to the chamber in which the young ladies slept, unlace their
stays, and let them feed heartily on the strictly-prohibited dainties
of the pantry; grown rash by impunity, she one night ventured
to attempt running the blockade with hot roast goose, but three
fatal circumstances combined against the success of the dangerous
undertaking. In the first place, the savoury perfume arising from hot
roast goose was penetrating to an alarming degree; in the second, the
old lady, as ill-luck would have it, happened to be awake, and, worse
than all, had no snuff, so smelt goose. The scene which followed the
capture of the illicit cargo and the detection of the culprit cook can
be much more easily imagined than described.
[Illustration: LADY OF FASHION, 1830.]
[Illustration: LADY OF FASHION, 1837.]
The custom of wearing the corset by night as well as by day, above
referred to, although partially discontinued for some time, is
becoming general again. About the commencement of the last century the
custom was much advocated and followed in France, and it is said to
reduce and form the figure much more rapidly than any system of lacing
by day only could bring about.
A French author of the period referred to says--"Many mothers who have
an eye to the main chance, through an excess of zeal, or rather from
a strange fear, condemn their daughters to wear corsets night and
day, lest the interruption of their use should hinder their project
of procuring for them fine waists." That ladies are fully aware of
the potent influences of the practice, the following letter to the
_Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine_ will show:--
"As several of your correspondents have remarked, the
personal experience of those who have for a number of years
worn tight-fitting corsets can alone enable a clear and fair
judgment to be pronounced upon their use. Happening to have had
what I believe you will admit to be an unusual experience of
tight-lacing, I trust you will allow me to tell the story of
my younger days. Owing to the absence of my parents in India,
I was allowed to attain the age of fourteen before any care
was bestowed upon my figure; but their return home fortunately
saved me from growing into a clumsy, inelegant girl; for
my mamma was so shocked at my appearance that she took the
unusual plan of making me sleep in my corset. For the first
few weeks I occasionally felt considerable discomfort, owing,
in a great measure, to not having worn stays before, and also
to their extreme tightness and stiffness. Yet, though I was
never allowed to slacken them before retiring to rest, they did
not in the least interfere with my sleep, nor produce any ill
effects whatever. I may mention that my mamma, fearing that,
at so late an age, I should have great difficulty in securing
a presentable figure, considered ordinary means insufficient,
and consequently had my corsets filled with whalebone and
furnished with shoulder-straps, to cure the habit of stooping
which I had contracted. The busk, which was nearly inflexible,
was not front-fastening, and the lace being secured in a hard
knot behind and at the top, effectually prevented any attempt
on my part to unloose my stays. Though I have read lately of
this plan having been tried with advantage, I believe it is
as yet an unusual one, and as the testimony of one who has
undergone it without the least injury to health cannot fail to
be of value in proving that the much less severe system usually
adopted must be even less likely to do harm, I am sure you will
do me and your numerous readers the favour of inserting this
letter in your most entertaining and valuable magazine. I am
delighted to see the friends of the corset muster so strong
at the 'Englishwoman's Conversazione.' What is most required,
however, are the personal experiences of the ladies themselves,
and not mere treatises on tight-lacing by those who, like your
correspondent Brisbane, have never tried it.
"MIGNONETTE."
Another correspondent to the same journal (signing herself
"Débutante") writes in the number for November, 1867, as follows:--
"Mignonette's case is not an '_unusual_' one. She has just finished
her education at a 'West-End school' where the system was strictly
enforced. As she entered as a pupil at the age of thirteen and was
very slender, she was fitted on her arrival with a corset, which
could be drawn close without the extreme tightness found necessary
in Mignonette's case. They did not open in front, and were fastened
by the under-governess in such a manner that any attempt to unlace
them during the night would be immediately detected at the morning's
inspection. After the first week or two she felt no discomfort or
pain of any kind, though, as she was still growing, her stays became
proportionately tighter, but owing to her figure never being allowed
to enlarge during the nine or ten hours of sleep, as is usually the
case, this was almost imperceptible."
[Illustration: THE CRINOLINE OF A SOUTH SEA ISLANDER.]
Madame La Sante also refers to the custom as being much more general
than is commonly supposed. She says--"Several instances of this system
in private families have lately come to my own knowledge, and I am
acquainted with more than one fashionable school in the neighbourhood
of London where the practice is made a rule of the establishment. Such
a method is doubtlessly resorted to from a sense of duty, and those
girls who have been subjected to this discipline, and with whom I have
had an opportunity of conversing, say that for the first few months
the uneasiness by the continued compression was very considerable,
but that after a time they became so accustomed to it that they felt
reluctant to discontinue the practice." In the United States of
America the ladies often possess figures of remarkable slenderness and
elegance, and the term "_illusion_" is not unfrequently applied to a
waist of more than ordinary taperness. In a great number of instances
the custom above referred to would be found to have mainly contributed
to its original formation. The way in which doctors disagree on
matters relating to the corset question is most remarkable.
The older writers, as we have seen, launched out in the most sweeping
and condemnatory manner against almost every article of becoming or
attractive attire. Corsets were most furiously denounced, and had the
qualities which were gravely attributed to them been one-thousandth
part as deadly as they were represented, the civilised world would
long ere this have been utterly depopulated. When we find such
diseases and ailments as the following attributed by authors of
supposed talent to the use of the corset, we are no longer surprised
at remarks and strictures emanating from similar sources meeting with
ridicule and derision: "hooping-cough, obliquity of vision, polypus,
apoplexy, stoppage of the nose, pains in the eyes, and earache" are
all laid at the door of the stays. We are rather surprised that large
ears and wooden legs were not added to the category, as they might
have been with an equal show of reason. Medical writers of the present
day are beginning to take a totally different view of the matter, as
the following letter from a surgeon of much experience will show:--
"My attention has just been directed to an interesting and
important discussion in your magazine on the subject of corsets,
and I have been urged as a medical man to give my opinion
regarding them. Under these circumstances I trust you will
allow me to attend the 'Englishwoman's Conversazione' for once,
as medical men are supposed to be the great opponents of the
corset. It is no doubt true that those medical men who studied
for their profession some thirty or forty years ago are still
prejudiced against this elegant article of female dress, for
stays were very different things even then to what they are
now. The medical works, too, which they studied were written
years before, and spoke against the buckram and iron stays of
the last century. The name 'stays,' however, being still used
at the present time, the same odium still attaches to them
in the minds of physicians of the old school. But the rising
generation of doctors are free from these prejudices, and
fairly judge the light and elegant corsets of the present day
on their own merits. In short, it is now generally admitted,
and I, for one, freely allow, that moderate compression of
the waist by well-made corsets is far from being injurious.
It is really absurdly illogical for the opponents of the
corset to bring forward quotations from medical writers of
the last century, for the animadversions of Soemmering are
still quoted. Let us, however, merely look at facts as they at
present stand; statistics prove that there are several thousand
more women than men in the United Kingdom. A statement in the
Registrar-General's Report of a few years since has been brought
forward to prove that corsets produce an enormous mortality from
consumption, but these would-be benefactors of the fair sex
omit to state how many males die from that disease. If there be
any preponderance of deaths among women from consumption, the
cause may easily be found in the low dress, the thin shoes, and
the sedentary occupations in close rooms, without attributing
the blame to the corset. Dr. Walshe, in his well-known work
on diseases of the lungs, distinctly asserts that corsets
cannot be accused of causing consumption. With regard to spinal
curvature, a disease which has been connected by some writers
with the use of stays, an eminent French physician, speaking of
corsets, says--'They cannot be charged with causing deviations
of the vertebral column.' Let us, then, hear no more nonsense
about the terrible consequences of wearing corsets, at all
events till the ladies return to the buckram and iron of our
great-grandmothers. Your fair readers may rest assured that what
is said against stays at the present day is merely the lingering
echo of prejudice, and is quite inapplicable now-a-days to the
light and elegant production of the scientific _corsetière_. As
a medical man (and not one of the old school) I feel perfectly
justified in saying that ladies who are content with a moderate
application of the corset may secure that most elegant female
charm, a slender waist", without fear of injury to health.
"MEDICUS."
A great number of ladies who, by the systematic use of the corset,
have had their waists reduced to the fashionable standard, are to
be constantly met in society. The great majority declare that they
have in no way suffered in health from the treatment they had been
subjected to. _Vide_ the following letter from the _Queen_ of July 18,
1863:--
"MADAM,--As I have for a long time been a constant
reader of the _Lady's Journal_, I venture to ask you if you,
or any of your valuable correspondents, will kindly tell me
if it is true that small waists are again coming into fashion
generally? I am aware that they cannot be said to have gone
out of fashion altogether, for one often sees very slender
figures; but I think during the last few years they have been
less thought of than formerly. I have heard, however, from
several sources, and by the public prints, that they are again
to be _La Mode_. Now I fortunately possess a figure which will,
I hope, satisfy the demand of fashion in this respect. What
is the smallest-sized waist that one can have? Mine is sixteen
and a-half inches, and, I have heard, is considered small. I
do not believe what is said against the corset, though I admit
that if a girl is an invalid, or has a very tender constitution,
too sudden a reduction of the waist may be injurious. With a
waist which is, I believe, considered small, I can truly say
I have good health. If all that was said against the corset
were true, how is it so many ladies live to an advanced age? A
friend of mine has lately died at the age of eighty-six, who has
frequently told me anecdotes of how in her young days she was
laced cruelly tight, and at the age of seventeen had a waist
fifteen inches. Yet she was eighty-six when she died. I know
that it has been so long the habit of public journals to take
their example from medical men (who, I contend, are not the best
judges in the matter) in running down the corset, and the very
legitimate, and, if properly employed, harmless mode of giving
a graceful slenderness to the figure, that I can hardly expect
that at present you will have courage to take the part of the
ladies. But I beg you to be so kind as to tell me what you know
of the state of the fashion as regards the length and size of
the waist, and whether my waist would be considered small. Also
what is the smallest-sized waist known among ladies of fashion.
By doing this in an early number you will very much oblige,
"Yours, &c.,
"CONSTANCE."
The foregoing letter was followed on the 25th of the same month by one
from another correspondent to the same paper, fully bearing out the
truth of the view therein contained, and at the same time showing the
system adopted in many of the French finishing schools:--
"MADAM,--As a constant reader of your
highly-interesting and valuable paper, I have ventured to reply
to a letter under the above heading from your correspondent
Constance, contained in your last week's impression. In reply
to her first question, there is little doubt, I think, that
slender and long waists will ere long be _la mode_. Ladies
of fashion here who are fortunate enough to possess such
enviable and graceful attractions, take most especial care by
the arrangement of their toilets to show them off to the very
best advantage. A waist of sixteen and a-half-inches would, I
am of opinion, be considered, for a lady of fair average size
and stature, small enough to satisfy even the most exacting
of Fashion's votaries. The question as to how small one's
waist can be is rather hard to answer, and I am not aware
that any standard has yet been laid down on the subject,
but an application to any of our fashionable corset-makers
for the waist measurement of the smallest sizes made would
go far to clear the point up. Many of the corsets worn at
our late brilliant assemblies were about the size of your
correspondent's, and some few, I have been informed, even less.
I beg to testify most fully to the truth of the remarks made by
Constance as to the absurdly-exaggerated statements (evidently
made by persons utterly ignorant of the whole matter) touching
the dreadfully injurious effects of the corset on the female
constitution. My own, and a wide range of other experiences,
leads me to a totally different conclusion, and I fully believe
that, except in cases of confirmed disease or bad constitution,
a well-made and nicely-fitting corset inflicts no more injury
than a tight pair of gloves. Up to the age of fifteen I was
educated at a small provincial school, was suffered to run as
nearly wild as could well be, and grew stout, indifferent and
careless as to personal appearance, dress, manners, or any of
their belongings. Family circumstances and change of fortune at
this time led my relatives to the conclusion that my education
required a continental finish. Advantage was therefore taken of
the protection offered by some friends about to travel, and I
was, with well-filled trunks and a great deal of good advice,
packed off to a highly-genteel and fashionable establishment
for young ladies, situated in the suburbs of Paris. The morning
after my arrival I was aroused by the clang of the 'morning
bell.' I was in the act of commencing a hurried and by no means
an elaborate toilet, when the under-governess, accompanied by a
brisk, trim little woman, the bearer of a long cardboard case,
made their appearance; corsets of various patterns, as well as
silk laces of most portentous length, were at once produced, and
a very short time was allowed to elapse before my experiences
in the art and mystery of tight-lacing may be fairly said to
have commenced. My dresses were all removed, in order that the
waists should be taken in and the make altered; a frock was
borrowed for me for the day, and from that hour I was subjected
to the strict and rigid system of lacing in force through the
whole establishment, no relaxation of its discipline being
allowed during the day on any pretence whatever. For the period
(nearly three years) I remained as a pupil, I may say that my
health was excellent, as was that of the great majority of my
young companions in 'bondage,' and on taking my departure I
had grown from a clumsy girl to a very smart young lady, and
my waist was exactly seven inches less than on the day of my
arrival. From Paris I proceeded at once to join my relatives in
the island of Mauritius, and on my arrival in the isle sacred
to the memories of Paul and Virginia, I found the reign of
'Queen Corset' most arbitrary and absolute, but without in any
way that I could discover interfering with either the health
or vivacity of her exceedingly attractive and pretty subjects.
Before concluding, and whilst on the subject, a few words on
the 'front-fastening corset,' now so generally worn, may not
come amiss. After a thorough trial I have finally abandoned its
use, as being imperfect and faulty in every way, excepting the
very doubtful advantage of being a little more quickly put on
and off. Split up and open at the front as they are, and only
fastening here and there, the whole of the compactness and
stability so highly important in this part, of all others, of a
corset is all but lost, whilst the ordinary steel busk secures
these conditions, to the wearing out of the material of which
the corset is composed. The long double-looped round lace used
is, I consider, by no means either as neat, secure, or durable
as a flat plaited silk lace of good quality. Trusting these
remarks and replies may prove such as required by Constance, I
beg to subscribe myself,
"FANNY."
Another lady writing to the _Queen_ on the same subject in the month
of August has a waist under sixteen inches in circumference, as will
be seen by the annexed letter, and yet she declares her health to be
uninjured:--
"DEAR MADAM,--I have read with interest the letters of
Constance and Fanny on the subject of slender waists. It is so
much the fashion among medical men to cry down tight-lacing that
advocates are very daring who venture to uphold the practice.
It has ever been in vogue among our sex, and will, I maintain,
always continue so long as elegant figures are admired, for the
wearing of corsets produces a grace and slenderness which nature
never gives, and if the corset is discontinued or relaxed, the
figure at once becomes stout and loose. The dress fits better
over a close-laced corset, and the fullness of the skirts, and
ease of its folds, are greatly enhanced by the slenderness of
the waist. My own waist is under sixteen inches. I have always
enjoyed good health. Why, then, if the practice of tight-lacing
is not prejudicial to the constitution of all its votaries,
should we be debarred from the means of improving our appearance
and attaining an elegant and graceful figure? I quite agree
with Fanny respecting the front-fastening corset. I consider
it objectionable. The figure can never be so neat or slender
as in an ordinary well-laced corset. May I inquire what has
become of your correspondent Mary Blackbraid? Her partialities
for gloves and wigs brought upon her severe remarks from your
numerous correspondents. I agree with her in the glove question,
and always wear them as much as possible in the house. I find
they keep the hands cooler, and in my opinion there is no
such finish to the appearance as a well-gloved hand. Where I
am now staying the ladies invariably wear them, and I have
heard gentlemen express their admiration of the practice. I
have worn them to sleep in for some years, and never found any
inconvenience. Pardon me trespassing so much on your space, but
your interesting paper is the only one open to our defence from
the strictures of the over-particular.
"ELIZA."
The following letter from the columns of the _Queen_ contains much
matter bearing immediately on the subject, and will no doubt be of
interest to the reader:--
"MADAM,--I am sure your numerous readers will thank
you for your kindness in publishing so impartially the
correspondence you have received on the subject of the corset,
and as the question is one of great importance, and moreover one
on which much difference of opinion seems to exist, I trust you
will continue to give us the benefit of your correspondents'
remarks.
"When I read the very _àpropos_ letter of Constance, and the
excellent letter of Fanny in reply, I was quite prepared to see
in your last number some strong expressions of opinion against
this most becoming fashion; but I think that they, as well as
Eliza, need not be discouraged by the formidable opposition
they have met with, and I beg you will afford me space for a
few lines, in order to refute the arguments of the anti-corset
party, in your valuable journal.
"Much as I, in common with all your readers, delight in reading
Mr. Frank Buckland's articles, I really cannot agree with him
in his view of the subject. In the first place, I really must
question his authority in the matter, for I am convinced that
it is only those who have experienced the comfortable support
afforded by a well-made corset who are entitled to pronounce
their opinion. What can Mr. Buckland, or any one not of the
corset-wearing sex, know of the practical operation of this
indispensable article of female attire? I will not attempt so
arduous a task as that of disproving all that Mr. Combe and
his professional brethren have written against tight-lacing;
I am even willing to admit that there may be persons so
constituted that the attainment of a graceful slenderness would
be injurious; but these are the exceptions, not the rule. The
remarks of the faculty are founded principally on theory, backed
up by an occasional case which might very often be referred
to some other cause with equal justice. But who does not know
that practice often belies theory, or that theory is frequently
at fault? Slender waists have been in fashion for several
hundred years, and for the purposes of my argument I will refer
to a period thirty or forty years ago. No one then thought
of questioning the absolute necessity of attaining a slender
figure by the instrumentality of the corset. If, let me ask Mr.
Buckland and your other correspondents, theory be true that
torture and death are the result, how does it happen not only
that there are millions of healthy middle-aged ladies among us
now, but that the female population actually exceeds the male?
By what wonderful means have they continued to exist and enjoy
such perfect health, while such a terrible engine of destruction
as the corset was at work upon their frames? If all that theory
said against the corset were true, not a thousand women would
now be left alive.
"I cannot avoid troubling you a little further while I descend
more into details. Spinal curvature, it is said, is caused by
wearing stays. But what kind of stays were they which produced
this result, and were no other causes discernible? I think that
in every instance it would be found that the stays have been
badly made, that they have not been properly laced, or that the
busk and materials have not been sufficiently firm.
"In addition to this, girls are too often compelled to maintain
an erect position on a form or a music-stool for too long a time
during school hours. If the corset is properly made, a young
lady may be allowed to lean back in her chair without danger
of acquiring lounging habits or injuring her figure. It is to
this over-tiring of the muscles that all spinal curvature is
attributable, and not to the stays, which, if properly employed,
would act as a sure preventative. Again, let me ask any one of
the opposite sex who, at any rate at the present day, do not
wear stays, whether they have never experienced 'palpitation
or flushings,' headaches, and red noses? What right has any
one to make these special attendants on small-waisted ladies?
There is no more danger of incurring these evils than by a
gentleman wearing a hat. Well may the old lady have 'forgotten'
these little items in her anecdotes. The comparison between
the human frame and a watch is correct in some respects, but
it is particularly unhappy in relation to the present subject.
The works of a watch are hard and unyielding, and not being
possessed of life and power of growing, cannot adapt themselves
to their outer case. If you squeeze in the case the works will
be broken and put out of order; far different is it with the
supple and growing frame of a young girl. If the various organs
are prevented from taking a certain form or direction, they
will accommodate themselves to any other with perfect ease.
Nothing is broken or interfered with in its action. I will,
of course, allow that if a fully-grown woman were to attempt
to reduce her waist suddenly, respiration and digestion would
be stopped; but it is rarely, if ever, that a lady arrives at
maturity before she has imbibed sufficient notions of elegance
and propriety to induce her to conform to this becoming fashion
to some extent. Happy indeed those who are blessed with mothers
who are wise enough to educate their daughters' figures with an
eye to their future comfort. The constant discomfort felt by
those whose clumsy waists and exuberant forms are a perpetual
bugbear to their happiness and advancement should warn mothers
of the necessity of looking to the future, and by directing
their figures successfully while young, avoid the unsuccessful
attempts to force them at an advanced age. One word more on
the question. Is a small waist admired by the gentlemen? Mr.
Buckland, it seems, has become so imbued with Mr. Combe's ideas
against tight-lacing, that he looks upon a slender waist with
feelings evidently far from admiration. But is this any reason
or authority for concluding that every gentleman of taste is
of a like opinion? On the contrary, I think it goes far to
prove that it is other than the younger class of gentlemen (for
whom, of course, the ladies lay their attractions) who run
down the corset. Many times in fashionable assemblies have I
heard gentlemen criticising the young ladies in such terms as
these;--'What a clumsy figure Miss---- is! it completely spoils
her.' 'What a pity Miss---- has not a neater figure!' and so on,
and I believe there is not one young man in a thousand who does
not admire a graceful slenderness of the waist. What young man
cares to dance with girls who resemble casks in form? I have
invariably noticed that the girls with the smallest waists are
the queens of the ball-room. I have not space to enter into the
discussion as to whether the artificial waist is more beautiful
than that of the Venus de Medici; on such matters every one
forms their own opinions. The waist of the Venus is beautiful
for the Venus, but would cease to be so if clothed. I maintain
that the comparison is not a good one, as the circumstances are
not equal. In other respects, let the ladies, then, not be led
to make themselves ungraceful and unattractive by listening to
theories which are contradicted by practice, promulgated by
persons ignorant, as far as their personal experience goes, of
the operation and effect of corsets, and taken up by ladies
and gentlemen, not of the youngest, who, like your Country
Subscriber, are past the age when the pleasantest excitements
of life form topics of interest. Is it not natural that a young
lady should be anxious to present a sylph-like form instead of
appearing matronly? There are some to whom the words 'tight
lacing' suggest immediately what they are pleased to term
'torture,' 'misery,' &c., but who have never taken the trouble
to inquire into the subject, preferring the far easier way of
taking for granted that all that has been said against it is
true. When such would-be benefactors to the fair sex hear of
a sudden death, or see a lady faint at a ball or a theatre,
they immediately raise the cry of 'Tight-lacing!' An instance
occurred not long ago in which, in a public journal, the sudden
death of a young lady was ascribed to this cause, but in a few
days afterwards was expressly contradicted in a paragraph of the
same paper. Do we never hear of men dying suddenly, or fainting
away from overheat? That small waists are the fashion admits
of no doubt, for I have myself applied to several fashionable
corset-makers in London and the principal fashionable resorts
to ascertain whether it be the case. I gather from their
information that small waists are most unmistakably the fashion;
that there are more corsets made to order under eighteen inches
than over that measurement; that the smallest size is usually
fifteen inches, though few possess so elegantly small a waist,
the majority being about seventeen or eighteen inches; that the
ladies are now beginning to see that the front-fastening busk is
not so good as the old-fashioned kind, and have their daughters'
corsets well boned. Many also prefer shoulder-straps for the
stays of growing girls, which keep the chest expanded, and
prevent their leaning too much on the busk. If these are not too
tight they are very advantageous to the figure, and the upper
part of the corset should just fit, but not be tight. A corset
made on these principles will cause no injury to health, unless
the girl is naturally of a consumptive constitution, in which
case no one would think of lacing at all tightly.
"I must apologise for this long letter, but I felt bound to take
advantage of the opportunity you afford to discuss this really
important question.
"I remain, madam, yours,
"ADMIRER."