The elegant figure of the Empress of Austria--Slender waists the
fashion in Vienna--The small size of Corsets frequently made in
London--Letter from the _Queen_ on small waists--Remarks on the
portrait of the Empress of Austria in the Exhibition--Diminutive
waist of Lady Morton--General remarks on the figure--Remarks
on figure-training by the use of stays--Mode of constructing
Corsets for growing girls--Tight-lacing abolished by the
early use of well-constructed Corsets--Boarding-school
discipline and extreme tight-lacing--Letter in praise of tight
Corsets--Letter in praise of Crinoline and Corsets--Another
letter on boarding-school discipline and figure-training--The
waist of fashion contrasted with that of the Venus de Medici--A
fashionably-dressed statue--Clumsy figures a serious drawback
to young ladies--Letter from a lady, who habitually laces with
extreme tightness, in praise of the Corset--Opinions of a young
baronet on slender waists; letter from a family man on the same
subject.
As most of our readers will be aware, the much-admired Empress of
Austria has been long celebrated for possessing a waist of sixteen
inches in circumference, and a friend of ours, who has recently had
unusual opportunities afforded for judging of the fashionable world
of Vienna, assures us that waists of equal slenderness are by no
means uncommon. We are also informed by one of the first West-End
corset-makers that sixteen inches is a size not unfrequently made in
London. Much valuable and interesting information can be gathered from
the following letter from a talented correspondent of the _Queen_ a
few months ago:--
"CORSETS AND SMALL WAISTS.
"I am a constant reader of the _Queen_, and look forward with
anxiety for more of the very interesting letters on the corset
question which you are so obliging as to insert in your paper. I
know many who take as much pleasure in reading them as myself,
for the subject is one on which both health and beauty greatly
depend. All who visited the picture-gallery in the Exhibition
of 1862 must have seen an exquisitely-painted portrait of the
beautiful Empress of Austria, and though it did not show the
waist in the most favourable position, some idea may be formed
of its elegant slenderness and easy grace. Many were the remarks
made upon it by all classes of critics while I seated myself
opposite the picture for a few minutes. I should like any one
who maintains that small waists are not generally admired to
have taken up the position which I did for half-an-hour, and I
am sure she would soon find her opinion unsupported by facts;
your correspondents, however, are at fault in supposing that
sixteen inches is the smallest waist that the world has almost
ever known. Lady Babbage, in her _Collection of Curiosities_,
tells us that in a portrait of Lady Morton, in the possession
of Lord Dillon, the waist cannot exceed ten or twelve inches
in circumference, and at the largest part immediately beneath
the armpits not more than twenty-four, and the immense length
of the figure seems to give it the appearance of even greater
slenderness. Catherine de Medici considered the standard of
perfection to be thirteen inches. It is scarcely to be supposed
that any lady of the present day possesses such an absurdly
small waist as thirteen inches, but I am certain that not a few
could be found whose waistband does not exceed fifteen inches
and three-quarters or sixteen inches. Much depends on the height
and width of the shoulders; narrow shoulders generally admit
of a small waist, and many tall women are naturally so slender
as to be able to show a small waist with very little lacing.
It is needless to remark how much depends on the corset. Your
correspondent, A. H. Turnour, says that the long corsets, if
well pulled in at the waist, compress one cruelly all the way
up, and cause the shoulders to deport themselves awkwardly and
stiffly. Now, no corset will be able to do this if constructed
as it should be. I believe the great fault to be that when the
corset is laced on it is very generally open an inch or so from
top to bottom. The consequence of this is, that when the wearer
is sitting down, and the pressure on the waist the greatest,
the tendency is to pull the less tightly drawn lace at the top
of the corset tighter; on changing the posture this does not
right itself, and consequently an unnecessary and injurious
compression round the chest is experienced. Now, if the corset,
when fitted, were so made that it should meet all the way, or
at any rate _above_ and _below_ the waist, when laced on, this
evil would be entirely avoided, and absence of compression round
the upper part of the chest would give an increased appearance
of slenderness to the waist and allow the lungs as much play as
the waistbands. There seems to be an idea that when the corset
is made to meet it gives a stiffness to the figure. In the days
of buckram this might be the case, but no such effect need be
feared from the light and flexible stays of the present day,
and the fault which frequently leads to the fear of wearing
corsets which do not meet is, that the formation of the waist
is not begun early enough. The consequence of this is, that the
waist has to be _compressed_ into a slender shape after it has
been allowed to swell, and the stays are therefore made so as
to allow of being laced tighter and tighter. Now I am persuaded
that much inconvenience is caused by this practice, which might
be entirely avoided by the following simple plan, which I have
myself tried with my own daughters, and have found to answer
admirably. At the age of seven I had them fitted with stays
without much bone and a flexible busk, and these were made to
meet from top to bottom when laced, and so as not to exercise
the least pressure round the chest and beneath the waist, and
only a very _slight_ pressure at the waist, just enough to
show off the figure and give it a roundness. To prevent the
stays from slipping, easy shoulder-straps were added. In front,
extending from the top more than half way to the waist, were
two sets of lace-holes, by which the stays could be enlarged
round the upper part. As my daughters grew, these permitted of
my always preventing any undue pressure, but I always laced the
stays so as to meet behind. When new ones were required they
were made exactly the same size at the waist, but as large
round the upper part as the gradual enlargement had made the
former pair. They were also of course made a little longer, and
the position of the shoulder-straps slightly altered; by these
means their figures were directed instead of forced into a
slender shape; no inconvenience was felt, and my daughters, I am
happy to say, are straight, and enjoy perfect health, while the
waist of the eldest is eighteen inches, and that of the youngest
seventeen. I am convinced that my plan is the most reasonable
one that can be adopted. By this means '_tight-lacing_' will be
abolished, for no tight-lacing or compression is required, and
the child, being accustomed to the stays from an early age, does
not experience any of the inconveniences which are sometimes
felt by those who do not adopt them till twelve or fourteen.
"A FORMER CORRESPONDENT (Edinburgh)."
The advisability of training instead of forcing the figure into
slenderness is now becoming almost universally admitted by those
who have paid any attention to the subject; yet it appears from the
following letters, which appeared in the _Englishwoman's Domestic
Magazine_ of January and February, 1868, that the corset, even when
employed at a comparatively late period of life, is capable of
reducing the size of the waist in an extraordinary manner, without
causing the serious consequences which it has so long been the custom
to associate with the practice of tight-lacing.
A Tight-Lacer expresses herself to the following effect:--"Most of
your correspondents advocate the early use of the corset as the best
means to secure a slender waist. No doubt this is the best and most
easy mode, but still I think there are many young ladies who have
never worn tight stays who might have small waists even now if they
would only give themselves the trouble. I did not commence to lace
tightly until I was married, nor should I have done so then had not
my husband been so particularly fond of a small waist; but I was
determined not to lose one atom of his affection for the sake of a
little trouble. I could not bear to think of him liking any one else's
figure better than mine, consequently, although my waist measured
twenty-three inches, I went and ordered a pair of stays, made very
strong and filled with stiff bone, measuring only fourteen inches
round the waist. These, with the assistance of my maid, I put on,
and managed the first day to lace my waist in to eighteen inches. At
night I slept in my corset without loosing the lace in the least. The
next day my maid got my waist to seventeen inches, and so on, an inch
smaller every day, until she got them to meet. I wore them regularly
without ever taking them off, having them tightened afresh every day,
as the laces might stretch a little. They did not open in front, so
that I could not undo them if I had wanted. For the first few days the
pain was very great, but as soon as the stays were laced close, and I
had worn them so for a few days, I began to care nothing about it, and
in a month or so I would not have taken them off on any account, for I
quite enjoyed the sensation, and when I let my husband see me with a
dress to fit I was amply repaid for my trouble; and although I am now
grown older, and the fresh bloom of youth is gone from my cheek, still
my figure remains the same, which is a charm age will not rob me of. I
have never had cause to regret the step I took."
Another lady says--"A correspondent in the October number of your
magazine states that her waist is only thirteen inches round, but
she does not state her height. My waist is only twelve inches round;
but then, although I am eighteen years old, I am only four feet five
inches in height, so that my waist is never noticed as small; while my
elder sister (whose height is five feet eight inches) is considered
to have a very nice figure, though her waist is twenty-three inches
round. I am glad to have an opportunity of expressing my opinions on
the subject of tight-lacing. I quite agree with those who think it
perfectly necessary with the present style of dress (which style I
hope is likely to continue). I believe every one admires the effect
of tight-lacing, though they may not approve in theory. My father
always used to declaim loudly against stays of any kind, so my sister
and I were suffered to grow up without any attention being paid to our
figures, and with all our clothes made perfectly loose, till my sister
was eighteen and I fifteen years old, when papa, after accompanying us
to some party, made some remarks on the clumsiness of our figures, and
the ill-fitting make of our dresses. Fortunately, it was not too late.
Mamma immediately had well-fitting corsets made for us, and as we were
both anxious to have small waists we tightened each other's laces four
and five times a day for more than a year; now we only tighten them
(after the morning) when we are going to a party."
As it has been most justly remarked, no description of evidence can
be so conclusive as that of those whose daily and hourly experience
brings them in contact with the matter under discussion, and we append
here a letter from a correspondent to the _Englishwoman's Domestic
Magazine_ of May, 1867, giving her boarding-school experience in the
matter of extreme tight-lacing:--
Nora says--"I venture to trouble you with a few particulars on the
subject of 'tight-lacing,' having seen a letter in your March number
inviting correspondence on the matter. I was placed at the age of
fifteen at a fashionable school in London, and there it was the custom
for the waists of the pupils to be reduced one inch per month until
they were what the lady principal considered small enough. When I
left school at seventeen, my waist measured only thirteen inches,
it having been formerly twenty-three inches in circumference. Every
morning one of the maids used to come to assist us to dress, and a
governess superintended to see that our corsets were drawn as tight as
possible. After the first few minutes every morning I felt no pain,
and the only ill effects apparently were occasional headaches and loss
of appetite. I should be glad if you will inform me if it is possible
for girls to have a waist of fashionable size and yet preserve their
health. Very few of my fellow-pupils appeared to suffer, except the
pain caused by the extreme tightness of the stays. In one case where
the girl was stout and largely built, two strong maids were obliged
to use their utmost force to make her waist the size ordered by
the lady principal--viz., seventeen inches--and though she fainted
twice while the stays were being made to meet, she wore them without
seeming injury to her health, and before she left school she had a
waist measuring only fourteen inches, yet she never suffered a day's
illness. Generally all the blame is laid by parents on the principal
of the school, but it is often a subject of the greatest rivalry among
the girls to see which can get the smallest waist, and often while the
servant was drawing in the waist of my friend to the utmost of her
strength, the young lady, though being tightened till she had hardly
breath to speak, would urge the maid to pull the stays yet closer,
and tell her not to let the lace slip in the least. I think this is
a subject which is not sufficiently understood. Though I have always
heard tight-lacing condemned, I have never suffered any ill effects
myself, and, as a rule, our school was singularly free from illness.
By publishing this side of the question in the _Englishwoman's
Domestic Magazine_ you will greatly oblige."
Cases like the foregoing are most important and remarkable, as they
show most indisputably that loss of health is not so inseparably
associated with even the most unflinching application of the corset
as the world has been led to suppose. It rather appears that
although a very considerable amount of inconvenience and uneasiness
is experienced by those who are unaccustomed to the reducing and
restraining influences of the corset, when adopted at rather a late
period of growth, they not only in a short time cease to suffer,
but of their own free will continue the practice and become partial
to it. Thus writes an Edinburgh lady, who incloses her card, to the
_Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine_ of March, 1867:--
"I have been abroad for the last four years, during which I
left my daughter at a large and fashionable boarding-school
near London. I sent for her home directly I arrived, and,
having had no bad accounts of her health during my absence, I
expected to see a fresh rosy girl of seventeen come bounding
to welcome me. What, then, was my surprise to see a tall, pale
young lady glide slowly in with measured gait and languidly
embrace me; when she had removed her mantle I understood at once
what had been mainly instrumental in metamorphosing my merry
romping girl to a pale fashionable belle. Her waist had, during
the four years she had been at school, been reduced to such
absurdly small dimensions that I could easily have clasped it
with my two hands. 'How could you be so foolish,' I exclaimed,
'as to sacrifice your health for the sake of a fashionable
figure?' 'Please don't blame me, mamma,' she replied, 'I assure
you I would not have voluntarily submitted to the torture I
have suffered for all the admiration in the world.' She then
told me how the most merciless system of tight-lacing was the
rule of the establishment, and how she and her forty or fifty
fellow-pupils had been daily imprisoned in vices of whalebone
drawn tight by the muscular arms of sturdy waiting-maids, till
the fashionable standard of tenuity was attained. The torture at
first was, she declared, often intolerable; but all entreaties
were vain, as no relaxation of the cruel laces was allowed
during the day under any pretext except decided illness. 'But
why did you not complain to me at first?' I inquired. 'As soon
as I found to what a system of torture I was condemned,' she
replied, 'I wrote a long letter to you describing my sufferings,
and praying you to take me away. But the lady principal made
it a rule to revise all letters sent by, or received by, the
pupils, and when she saw mine she not only refused to let
it pass, but punished me severely for rebelling against the
discipline of the school.' 'At least you will now obtain relief
from your sufferings,' I exclaimed, 'for you shall not go back
to that school any more.' On attempting to discontinue the
tight-lacing, however, my daughter found that she had been so
weakened by the severe pressure of the last four years that her
muscles were powerless to support her, and she has therefore
been compelled to lace as tight as ever, or nearly so. She says,
however, that she does not suffer much inconvenience now, or,
indeed, after the first two years--so wonderful is the power of
Nature to accommodate herself to circumstances. The mischief is
done; her muscles have been, so to speak, murdered, and she must
submit for life to be incased in a stiff panoply of whalebone
and steel, and all this torture and misery for what?--merely to
attract admiration for her small waist. I called on the lady
principal of the establishment the next day, and was told that
very few ladies objected to their daughters having their figures
improved, that small waists were just now as fashionable as
ever, and that no young lady could go into good society with a
coarse, clumsy waist like a rustic, that she had always given
great satisfaction by her system, which she assured me required
unremitting perseverance and strictness, owing to the obstinacy
of young girls, and the difficulty of making them understand the
importance of a good figure. Finding that I could not touch the
heart of this female inquisitor, who was so blinded by fashion,
I determined to write to you and inform your readers of the
system adopted in fashionable boarding-schools, so that if they
do not wish their daughters tortured into wasp-waisted invalids
they may avoid sending them to schools where the corset-screw is
an institution of the establishment."
And on the appearance of her letter it was replied to by another lady,
who writes as follows:--
"In reply to the invitation from the lady from Edinburgh to a
discussion on the popular system amongst our sex of compression
of the waist, when requisite to attain elegance of figure, I
beg to say that I am inclined, from the tone of her letter,
to consider her an advocate of the system she at first sight
appears to condemn. This conviction of mine may arise from my
own partiality to the practice of tight-lacing, but the manner
in which she puts the question almost inclines me to believe
that she is, as a corset-maker, financially interested in
the general adoption of the corset-screw. Her account of the
whole affair seems so artificial, so made up for a purpose, so
to speak, that I, for one, am inclined to totally discredit
it. A waist 'easily clasped with two hands.' Ye powers! what
perfection! how delightful! I declare that ever since I read
that I have worn a pair of stays that I had rejected for being
too small for me, as they did not quite meet behind (and I can't
bear a pair that I cannot closely lace), and have submitted to
an extra amount of muscular exertion from my maid in order to
approach, if ever so distantly, the delightful dimensions of two
handsful. Then, again, how charmingly she insinuates that if we
will only persevere, only submit to a short probationary period
of torture, the hated compression (but desired attenuation)
will have become a second nature to us, that not only will it
not inconvenience us, but possibly we shall be obliged, for
comfort's sake itself, to continue the practice. Now, madam,
as a part of the present whole of modern dress, every one must
admit that a slender waist is a great acquisition, and from my
own experience and the experience of several young lady friends
similarly addicted to guide me, I beg to pronounce the so-called
evils of tight-lacing to be a mere bugbear and so much cant.
Every woman has the remedy in her own hands. If she feels the
practice to be an injury to her, she can but discontinue it at
any time. To me the sensation of being tightly laced in a pair
of elegant, well-made, tightly-fitting corsets is superb, and I
have never felt any evil to arise therefrom. I rejoice in quite
a collection of these much-abused objects--in silk, satin, and
coutil of every style and colour--and never feel prouder or
happier, so far as matters of the toilette are concerned, than
when I survey in myself the fascinating undulations of outline.
"STAYLACE."
Then follows a letter rather calculated to cast doubt on the subject
of the sufferings of the young lady whose case has been described,
from a lady who, although possessing a small waist, knows nothing of
them. Thus she writes:--
"Please let me join in the all-absorbing discussion you have
introduced at the Englishwoman's monthly Conversazione, and
let me first thank Staylace for her capital letter. I quite
agree with her in suspecting the story of the young lady at
the boarding-school to be overdrawn a little. Would the young
lady herself oblige us with a description of her 'tortures,'
as I and several of my friends who follow the present fashion
of small waists are curious to know something of them, having
never experienced these terrible sufferings, though my
waistband measures only eighteen inches? The truth is, there
are always a number of fussy middle-aged people who (with the
best intentions, no doubt) are always abusing some article of
female dress. The best of it is, these benevolent individuals
are usually of that sex whose costume precludes them from
making a personal trial of the articles they condemn. Now it
is the crinoline which draws forth their indignant outcries,
now the corset, and now the chignon. They know not from their
own experience how the crinoline relieves us from the weight
of many under-skirts, and prevents them from clinging to us
while walking, and they have never felt the comfortable support
of a well-made corset. Yet they decry the use of the first as
unaccountable, and of the second as suicidal. Let me tell them,
however, that the ladies themselves judge from practice and not
from theory, and if the opponents of the corset require proof
of this, let me remind them that compression of the waist has
been more or less universal throughout the civilised world for
three or four centuries, in spite of reams of paper and gallons
of printing-ink. I may add that, for my own part, I have always
laced tightly, and have always enjoyed good health. Allow me
to recommend ladies to have their corsets made to measure,
and if they do not feel they suffer any inconvenience, they
may certainly take the example of your clever correspondent
Staylace, and look upon the outcry as a 'bugbear and so much
cant.'
"BELLE."
Thus called on, the young lady herself writes and confirms, as
it will be seen, the statements of others, that the late use of
the corset is the main source of pain on its first adoption; and
the statement she makes that her waist is so much admired that
she sometimes forgets the pain passed through in attaining it,
coupled with the confession that she is not in ill-health, gives
her letter strong significance. Here it is in its integrity:--
"In last month's number of your valuable magazine you were kind
enough to publish a letter from my mamma on the subject of
tight-lacing, and as your correspondent Staylace says she is
inclined to think the whole story made up for a purpose, mamma
has requested me to write and confirm what she stated in her
letter. It seems wonderful to me how your correspondent can
lace so tightly and never feel any inconvenience. It may be,
very likely, owing to her having begun very young. In my case
I can only say I suffered sometimes perfect torture from my
stays, especially after dinner, not that I ate heartily, for
that I found impossible, even if we had been allowed to do so
by our schoolmistress, who considered it unladylike. The great
difference between your correspondent Staylace and myself seems
to be that she was incased in corsets at an early age, and thus
became gradually accustomed to tight-lacing, while I did not
wear them till I went to school at fourteen, and I did not wear
them voluntarily. Of course it is impossible to say whether I
underwent greater pressure than she has. I think I must have
done so, for my waist had grown large before it was subjected
to the lacing, and had to be reduced to its present tenuity,
whereas, if she began stays earlier, that would have prevented
her figure from growing so large. Perhaps Staylace will be so
kind as to say whether she began stays early, or at any rate
before fourteen, and what is the size of her waist and her
height? One reason why she does not feel any inconvenience from
tight corsets may be that, when she feels disposed, she may
loosen them, and thus prevent any pain from coming on. But when
I was at school I was not allowed to loosen them in the least,
however much they distressed me, so that what was in the morning
merely a feeling of irksome pressure, became towards the end of
the day a regular torture. I quite admit that slender waists
are beautiful--in fact, my own waist is so much admired that I
sometimes forget the pain I underwent in attaining it. I am also
quite ready to confess I am not in ill-health, though I often
feel languid and disinclined for walking out. Nor do I think
a girl whose constitution is sound would suffer any injury to
her health from moderate lacing, but I must beg that you will
allow me to declare that when stays are not worn till fourteen
years of age, very tight lacing causes absolute torture for
the first few months, and it was principally to deter ladies
from subjecting their daughters to this pain in similar cases
that mamma wrote to you. I am sure any young lady who has (like
myself) begun tight-lacing rather late will corroborate what I
have said, and I hope some will come forward and do so, now you
so kindly give the opportunity."
Much ill-deserved blame has been from time to time cast on the lady
principals of fashionable schools for insisting on the strict use of
the corset by the young ladies in their charge. The following letter
from a schoolmistress of great experience, and another from a young
lady who has finished her education at a fashionable boarding-school,
will at once serve to show that the measures adopted by the heads of
these establishments for the obtainment of elegant figures are in
the end fully appreciated by those who have been fortunate enough to
profit by them.
A Schoolmistress Correspondent says--"As a regular subscriber to your
valuable magazine, I see you have invited your numerous readers to
discuss the subject brought forward by a correspondent in Edinburgh,
and as the principal of a large ladies' school in that city, I feel
sure you will kindly allow me space to say a few words in reply
to her letter. In the first place it must be apparent that your
correspondent committed a great mistake in placing her daughter at a
fashionable school if she did not wish her to become a fashionable
belle, or she should at least have given instructions that her
daughter should not have her figure trained in what every one knows is
the fashionable style. For my own part I have always paid particular
attention to the figures of the young ladies intrusted to my care, and
being fully convinced that if the general health is properly attended
to, corsets are far from being the dreadfully hurtful things some
people imagine. I have never hesitated to employ this most important
and elegant article of dress, except in one case where the pupil was
of a consumptive tendency, and I was specially requested not to allow
her to dress at all tightly. All my pupils enjoy good health, my
great secret being regular exercise, a point which is almost always
disregarded. It appears from your correspondent's letter that the
young lady did not experience any inconvenience after the first two
years she was at the school, nor does her mother say her health was
affected. She only complains that she is no longer a 'romping girl.'
Now, no young lady of eighteen who expects to move in fashionable
society would wish to be thought a romping schoolgirl. With regard
to the slight pain in the muscles which the young lady described as
'torture,' this was no doubt caused by her not having been accustomed
by degrees to a close-fitting dress before she went to the school. I
find that girls who have commenced the use of stays at an early age,
and become gradually used to them, do not experience any uneasiness
when they are worn tighter at fourteen or fifteen. There can be no
doubt that a slender figure is as much admired as ever, and always
will be so. The present fashion of short waists is admitted on all
hands to be very ugly, and will soon go out. Those girls, then, who
have not had their figures properly attended to while growing will
be unable to reduce their waists when the fashion changes, whereas,
by proper care now, they will be able to adopt the fashion of
longer waists without any inconvenience. I trust you will allow us
schoolmistresses fair play in this important matter, and insert this,
or part of it, in your magazine."
Mignon says--"DEAR MRS. ENGLISHWOMAN,--I beg--I pray--that
you will not close your delightful Conversazione to the tight-lacing
question: it is an absorbing one; hundreds, thousands of your young
lady readers are deeply interested in this matter, and the subscribers
to your excellent magazine are increasing daily, to my own knowledge,
by reason of this interesting controversy; pray wait a little, and
you will see how the tight-lacers and their gentlemen admirers will
rally round the banner that has been unfurled. There is an attempt
being made to introduce the hideous fashion of the 'Empire,' as it
is called. Why should we, who have been disciplined at home and
at school, and laced tighter and tighter month after month, until
our waists have become 'small by degrees and beautifully less,' be
expected to hide our figures (which we know are admired) under such
atrocious drapery? My stay and dress maker both tell me that it is
only the ill-formed and waistless ones that have taken to the fashion;
such, of course, are well pleased, and will have no objection to have
their waistbands as high as their armpits. Angular and rigid figures
have always pretended to sneer at tight-lacers, but any one of them
would give half, nay, their whole fortune to attain to such small
dimensions as some of your correspondents describe. I shall keep my
waist where nature has placed it, and where art has improved it, for
my own comfort, and because a certain friend has said that he never
could survive if it were any larger or shorter. My waist remains
just as it was a year and a-half ago, when I left school, where in
the course of three years it was by imperceptible degrees laced from
twenty to fifteen inches, not only without injury to health but with
great satisfaction and comfort to myself."
It has been much the fashion amongst those who have written in
condemnation of the use of the corset to contrast the figure of
the Venus de Medici with that of a fashionably-dressed lady of the
present day; but the comparison is anything but a happy one, as it
would be quite as reasonable to insist that because the sandalled and
stockingless foot of the lady of Ancient Greece was statuesque in
contour when forming a portion of a statue, it should be substituted
for the fashionable boot or slipper and silk stocking of the present
day. That perfection itself in the sculptor's art when draped in
fashionable attire would become supremely grotesque and ridiculous was
not long since fully proved by actual experiment. A former contributor
to the columns of the _Queen_, who at one time followed the medical
profession, felt so convinced of the claims to admiration possessed
by the classic order of form, that he obtained a copy of the Greek
Slave, and had it draped by a first-rate milliner, who made use of all
the modern appliances of the toilet, corset and crinoline included.
The result was that dress made a perfect fright of her, and the
disappointed experimentalist candidly confessed that he did not like
her half as well as he had done. The waist was disproportionately
thick, and the whole _tout ensemble_ dowdy in the extreme. No fallacy
can be greater than to apply the rules of ancient art to modern
costume. Thus writes an artist in the _Englishwoman's Domestic
Magazine_ of September, 1867:--
"I do not for a moment deny the truth of your artist
correspondent's assertions, for I consider, as every one must,
that the proportions of the human body are the most beautiful
in creation (where all is beautiful and correct), but the great
mistake which so many make is this. In civilised countries
the body is always clothed; and that clothing, especially of
the ladies of European nations, completely hides the contour
of the body. The effect of this is to give great clumsiness
to the waist when that part of the person is of its natural
size. Let any one make a fair and unprejudiced trial, such as
this: let him get a statuette of some celebrated antique, the
Venus de Medici or the Greek Slave, and have it dressed in an
ordinary dress of the present day, and see what the effect
really is. Until fashion, in its ever-changing round, returns to
the costume of Ancient Greece or Rome, we can never expect to
persuade ladies not to compress their waists merely on the score
of beauty; and as several of your correspondents have shown that
a moderate compression is not so injurious as some supposed,
there is no chance of the corset becoming an obsolete article
of female dress. It has been in use for seven or eight hundred
years, and now that its form and construction are so much
modified and improved, there need be no longer an outcry against
it; indeed, outcry has for centuries failed to affect it, though
other articles of dress have become in their turn obsolete, a
clear proof that there is something more than mere arbitrary
fashion in its hold upon the fair sex."
Another gentleman, not an artist, but whose sisters now suffer from
all the annoyances consequent on clumsy, ill-trained figures, thus
writes to the _Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine_ of September, 1867:--
"Though the subject on which I propose to address to you a few
observations hardly concerns a man, I hope you will allow me a
little space in your excellent journal to express my views upon
it. I have been much interested by reading the correspondence on
the subject of slender waists, and the means used for attaining
them. Now, there can be no doubt that gentlemen admire those
figures the most which have attained the greatest slenderness.
I think there is no more deplorable sight than a large and
clumsy waist; and as nature, without assistance from art,
seldom produces a really small waist, I think those mothers
and schoolmistresses who insist upon their daughters or pupils
between the ages of ten and seventeen wearing well-made corsets,
and having them tightly laced, confer upon the young ladies a
great benefit, which, though they may not appreciate at the
time, they will when they go out into society. Certainly some
of your correspondents seem to have fallen into the hands of
schoolmistresses thoroughly aware of the advantages of a good
figure--a waist that two hands can easily clasp is certainly a
marvel. I never had the good fortune to see such a one, yet one
of your correspondents assures us that her daughter's was no
larger than that. Nora, too, says that her waist only measured
thirteen inches when she left school; this seems to me to be
miraculously small. Most gentlemen do not think much about the
means used for attaining a fashionable figure, and I should not
have done so either if I had not heard it a good deal discussed
in my family, where my sisters were never allowed to lace at all
tightly, the consequence of which is, that now that they are
grown up they have very clumsy figures, much to their regret;
but it is too late to alter them now. As doctors seem to think
that the dangers of tight-lacing have been much exaggerated, and
as I know many ladies with very slender waists enjoying quite
as good health as their more strongly built sisters, I would
urge upon all who wish to have good figures not to be deterred
by alarmists from endeavouring gradually to attain an elegant
shape."
It is most remarkable that, notwithstanding the number of letters
which have been published casting condemnation and ridicule on those
who wear corsets, not one can we discover containing the personal
experiences of those who have been anything but temporary sufferers
from even their extreme use, whilst such letters as the following,
which appeared in the _Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine_ of August,
1867, are of a nature to lead to the conclusion that unless the
germs of disease of some kind are rooted in the system, a well-made
and perfectly-fitting corset may be worn with impunity, even when
habitually laced with considerable tightness. The lady thus gives her
own experiences and those of her daughters:--
"From the absence of any correspondence on the all-important
topic of tight-lacing in your August number, I very much
fear that the subject has come to an end. If so, many other
subscribers besides myself will be very sorry for it. I cannot
tell you what pleasure it gave me to see the sentiments that
were expressed by so many who, like myself, are addicted to
the practice of tight-lacing, and as for many years I have been
in the habit of lacing extremely tight, I trust that you will
allow me, by inserting this or part of it, to make known that
I have never suffered any pain or illness from it. In the days
when I was a schoolgirl, stays were worn much stiffer and higher
than the flimsy things now used, and were, besides, provided
with shoulder-straps, so that to be very tightly incased in
them was a much more serious affair than at the present day.[3]
But, nevertheless, I remember our governess would insist on the
greatest possible amount of constriction being used, and always
twice a day our stays were tightened still more. A great amount
of exercise was inculcated, which perhaps did away with any
ill effects this extreme tight-lacing might have occasioned,
but while at school I imbibed a liking for the practice, and
have ever since insisted on my maid lacing me as tightly as
she possibly can. I quite agree with Staylace in saying that
to be tightly laced in a pair of tight-fitting stays is a most
superb sensation. My two daughters, aged respectively sixteen
and eighteen, are brought up in the same way, and would not
consider themselves properly dressed unless their stays were
drawn together. They can bear me out in my favourable opinion
of tight-lacing, and their good health speaks volumes in its
praise. I hope, madam, you will kindly insert this letter in
your valuable and largely-circulated magazine."
[3] Fairholt remarks, in speaking of the discipline observed in
schools during the reign of George III.--"It was the fashion to
educate girls in stiffness of manner at all public schools, and
particularly to cultivate a fall of the shoulders and an upright set
of the bust. The top of the steel stay busk had a long stocking-needle
attached to it to prevent girls from spoiling their shape by stooping
too much over their needlework. This I have heard from a lady since
dead who had often felt these gentle hints and lamented their disuse."
Many opponents to the use of the corset have strongly urged the
somewhat weak argument, that ladies with slender waists are not
generally admired by the gentlemen. That question has been ably dealt
with in one or two of the preceding letters from ladies, and it is
but fair to them that the opinions of both the young and old of the
male sex (candidly communicated to the columns of the _Englishwoman's
Domestic Magazine_) should be added to the weight of evidence in
favour of almost universal admiration for a slender and well-rounded
waist. Thus writes a young baronet in the number for October, 1867:--
"As you have given your readers the benefit of Another Correspondent's
excellent letter will you kindly allow another member of the sterner
sex to give his opinion on the subject of small waists? Those who have
endeavoured to abolish this most becoming fashion have not hesitated
to declare that gentlemen do not care for a slender figure, but that,
on the contrary, their only feeling on beholding a waist of eighteen
inches is one of pity and contempt. Now so far from this being the
case, there is not one gentleman in a thousand who is not charmed
with the sight. Elderly gentlemen, no doubt, may be found who look
upon such things as 'vanity and vexation of spirit;' but is it for
these that young ladies usually cultivate their charms? There is one
suggestion I should be glad to make if you will permit me, and that
is that all those ladies who possess that most elegant attraction, a
slender waist, should not hide it so completely by shawls or loose
paletots when on the promenade or in the street. When by good-luck I
chance to meet a lady who has the good taste, I may say the kindness,
to show her tapering waist by wearing a close-fitting paletot, I not
unfrequently turn to admire, and so far from thinking of the means
used to obtain the result, I am held spellbound by the beauty of the
figure."
That elderly gentlemen are by no means as indifferent to the
attractions of elegant slenderness as our young correspondent
supposes, will be best shown by a letter from a family man on the
subject, communicated to the above journal, November, 1867. He says--
"I have read with much interest the correspondence on the above
subject in the Englishwoman's Conversazione for several months past,
having accidentally met with one of the numbers of your magazine in
a friend's house, and have since regularly taken it, although not
previously a subscriber. As an ardent admirer of small waists in
ladies, I wish to record for the satisfaction of those who possess
them the fact, which is sometimes disputed, that the pains bestowed in
attaining a slender figure are _not_ in vain so far as we gentlemen
are concerned, and some of us are positively absurd in our excessive
admiration of this particular female beauty. Poets and novelists are
perpetually introducing heroines with tiny waists and impossible feet,
and if they are to portray female loveliness in all its attributes,
they could not well omit two _such essential_ points, and I take it
their ideal is not an unfair criterion of the taste of the public at
large. I am delighted to learn from very clear evidence put forward by
your many correspondents that 'small waists' are attainable by most
ladies at little or no inconvenience, and that those of the clumsier
build are willing to suffer a certain amount of pain if necessary in
reducing their bulky figures to graceful proportions, and, above all,
that this can be done without injury to health, for after all it would
be a dearly-purchased charm if health were sacrificed. Some fifteen
or twenty years ago, I recollect the word '_stays_' was uttered as
though a certain amount of disgrace attached to the wearer, and
'_tight-lacing_' was looked on as a crime; but I am glad to see that
a reaction is setting in, and that ladies are not afraid to state
openly that 'they lace _very_ tightly,' and many of them declare
the sensation of being laced as tightly as possible as positively a
_pleasurable one_. I may say that personally I feel that every lady
of my acquaintance, or with whom I may come in contact, who does so
places me under a direct obligation. I will go further than your
correspondent, A Young Baronet, and say that whenever I meet a young
lady who possesses the charm of a small waist, and has the good taste
to wear the tight-fitting dress now fashionable for the promenade,
I make it a point to see her pretty figure more than once, and have
often gone considerably out of my way to do so. Although married
years and years ago, I am still a slave to a '_little waist_,' and I
am proud to say my wife humours my whim, and her waist is decidedly
a small one. I will, therefore, add my experience to that of others
(more competent to give an opinion, having experienced tight-lacing
in their own proper persons), and state that she never enjoyed better
health than when her waist was the smallest, and I shall be much
disappointed if her daughters, when they '_come out_' do not emulate
their mother's slender figure. By keeping your Conversazione open to
the advocates of tight-lacing, and thoroughly ventilating the subject,
you will, in my opinion, confer a benefit on the rising generation of
young ladies, whose mammas, in too many instances, are so _prejudiced_
against the use of the corset that they permit their daughters to grow
up into clumsy, awkward young women, to their own disgust and great
detriment in the matrimonial market.
"I am, madam, your obedient servant,
"BENEDICT."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE FASHION OF 1865.]