Written By Sasha Lootvoet

Edited By Julia Winterhalder

Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici trailblazed, while Madonna, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian followed; each of these women are important figures who contributed to the establishment of corsets as a long-lasting trend in women’s fashion. This garment made either of metal, whalebone, or plastic, functions as a true reflection of beauty standards for women across different geotemporal contexts. The corset cannot be disassociated from the gendered body it contains, and thus has always been closely linked to the determination of women’s self and perceived image, and to the expression of their sexualities. Here we will embark on an exploration of the historical and cultural evolution of corsetry to understand the contentious narratives behind its recent interpretations. In doing so, we can begin to explore the corset as a vessel for women’s self-determination while critically engaging with the debate surrounding “the most controversial garment in the history of fashion,” as defined by Veronica Steele—Chief Curator and Director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (Steele, 2001).

While corsetry has existed within women’s fashion for centuries, its anchor within Western culture can be widely attributed to Catherine de Medici—the former Queen of France who often wore metal-boned corsets to shape her body according to the idealized body proportions for women (Steele, 2001). Once she popularized the corset, they soon became the status quo. By the turn of the 17th-century they were the go-to fashion garment, and moral attitudes of the Victorian Era made the corset more restrictive than it had ever been. Domestic values promoted modesty, fragility, and passivity as desired female features, which standardized the ideal of the hourglass figure with an extremely tiny waist. Extremely tight lacing indeed triggered a daily physical weakness only compatible with a calm life at home, and also enhanced the hips, which were associated with images of fertility.

Critics of the corset began voicing their concerns by the late 19th century, stressing its harmful impacts for the development of a healthy pregnancy, the potential damage of one’s internal organs, and its restriction on the flow of breath (Summers, 2001). These critics even took on a moral tone, as some started conceptualizing the corset as an evil item that encouraged vanity. The turn of the century then saw the appearance of swan-line corsets, this time to accentuate the curves of the back rather than to reduce the waist. The 1920s followed this trend by shifting the focus of shaping to the hips. However, the circumstances of World War I and World War II resulted in corsets falling out of fashion: women were encouraged to refrain from buying corsets to free up metal supplies for the armed industries. Furthermore, as they took on more responsibilities to engage in war efforts, such as working in factories, less restricting garments such as bras became the preferred option (Erkal, 2001). While actresses were still seen wearing corsets, they were no longer an integral part of female fashion. Nonetheless, in the 1970s, Vivienne Westwood became the first designer in the contemporary fashion landscape to discern a new way of fashioning corsets. Her interpretation of the corset indeed introduced the idea that it could become an item women chose to wear to feel sexy and powerful, by manipulating the line between public and private spheres while recontextualizing its history. This effort put into exploring historicized femininity was made evident in Westwood’s corset rebranding. Presented on the runway for the first time in 1987,  the “Statue of Liberty” corset was evidently 18th century inspired. Later, Westwood’s Wallace Collection featured this same style of corset with a print of Boucher’s erotically charged “Shepherd watching a sleeping Shepherdess” painting (Erkal, 2001). Because of her contribution that reintegrated the corset into modern fashion, designers of all genres began to reinterpret corsetry. This new experimentation with corsetry amongst designers led to some iconic modern fashion moments, such as Madonna’s historic Jean Paul Gaultier corset during her world tour in 1990. Made of pale pink satin, this piece featured exaggerated conical bra cups that taper into sharp points, creating a futuristic and edgy silhouette. Since then, the corset has been used as an object of sexual empowerment by blurring the line between undergarments and outerwear: by publicly wearing an item that was strictly meant to be visible in private, women destigmatize their sexuality and claim it’s agency outside of the domestic sphere. 

Nevertheless, the corset’s comeback has not been without controversy. While efforts were made to bring it into a positive light, some saw it as an essentially binding instrument lacking any redeeming qualities. Contemporary historians have tried to present a more comprehensive analysis of the corset’s past to challenge its association with machines of torture designed to crush organs and make fragile creatures out of women (Erkal, 2001). While imagery of women fainting due to the imposed constraints of corsetry circulated during the Victorian Era, the corset has since gone through drastic transformations overtime and cannot be reduced to torture devices. In the Elizabethan society of 16th and early 17th-century Great Britain, corsets actually did not accentuate traditionally feminine features, but created the effect of a stiff V-shaped upper body which was seen as a sign of divine power and strength. This idea was largely derived from the figure of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, whose portraits display a very triangular woman, conscious of her God-given authority and power (Erkal, 2001). In her book Bound to Please (2001), Leigh Summer explores the agency-giving dimension of corsets over the course of history. In her words, corsetry “empowered women to behave within existing social constructions, and enabled them to manipulate those constructions to their own social advantage” (p.164). Her argument details how binding and constricting one’s body could paradoxically offer sexual and social freedoms. Middle-class women, for example, could continue to venture outside of the home until relatively late into their pregnancies by corseting, and thus hiding their ‘indecently’ pregnant bellies: pregnancy was treated as a private matter, not one for public acknowledgment, which made it difficult if not dangerous for pregnant to go out alone unaccompanied (Summer, 2001). Moreover, it is important to remember that corsets were not always associated with purity and morality like in the Victorian fashion, but that they also carry a vilified and repudiated tone that emerged from critics in the late 19th century. The use of corsets during this time triggered controversy between advocates of the domestic values as many associated the garment with a narcissist and immoral display of women’s bodies that went against the idealization of a docile, domesticated woman (Steele, 2001). Additionally, corsets were criticized for its impact on pregnancy and fertility, and was even understood as a potential contributing cause to “hysteria” because of the pressure it inflicted on organs (Steele, 2001). In light of this often contradicting puzzle of corsets’ physical and intellectual implications for women, some claim that the garment allows for positive and emancipatory interpretation in a modern context. The progressive reemergence of corsets from the 1970s–onward paved the way for its new definition as an instrument of sexual freedom and feminine agency.

The corset’s comeback therefore aligns with a broader phenomenon wherein traditional gender norms are reclaimed though exaggerated forms of femininity. For instance, this process was observable in the 2000s trend of the “new age bimbo”—stereotypically flamboyant expressions of femininity that are utilized as a form of self-empowerment. This phenomenon is also evident in the practice of drag, where performers embrace and amplify traditional markers of femininity—such as corsetry, extravagant makeup, and exaggerated silhouettes—not only to challenge and deconstruct gender norms but also to reclaim and celebrate femininity as a powerful, performative art form. Younger generations now appear to keep exploring even past conceptions of femininity by incorporating historically traditional feminine garments in daily outfits. Media outlets have also begun capitalizing off this historical comeback which reinforces the trend of corsetry in the modern fashion landscape, as exemplified by the success of the Netflix show Bridgerton (2020) which prompted popular clothing brands such as Selkie or Primark to create Bridgerton-inspired collections that drew upon corsetry.

However, the corset still faces fervent detractors who refuse the idea that a garment created to constrain the body could ever be reinvented in a way that does not reinforce patriarchal conceptions of femininity. This view is mostly channeled in Deconstructivist post-feminist discourses that argue that there is no fixed experience of femininity and that gender is performed according to social standards. In this perspective, the female body is therefore a passive object through which women reinforce and attend to the male gaze, thus implying that the corset acts as a method of control to maintain representations of women’s bodies that align with patriarchal ideals. Post-feminist scholars, on the other hand, emphasize individual agency, choice, and personal empowerment through embodied practices, often focusing on the ability to shape, beautify, or express oneself through the body. In this framework, the body is no longer seen as a site of patriarchal oppression but rather as a canvas for personal expression, enjoyment, and empowerment; corsets thus allow women to gain power and embrace the cultural norms of dominant beauty. This ambivalence in the perception of the corset within post-feminist discourse represents the double-sided perspective in fashion as being both a vessel for patriarchal standards and a powerful tool for self-expression. 

Establishing a politically correct or ethically moral perspective on corsetry is not the focus of this article, but I acknowledge that a positive framework for understanding the corset in relation to feminism cannot rely on the erasure of its centuries-long, harmful cultural and physical implications for women throughout history. Furthermore, in The Corset: a Cultural History (2001), Steele makes the argument that diet culture amongst women is the natural continuation of corsetry: standards now have to be achieved through the body itself, while corsets are no longer synonymous with pain and restrain. Finally, I would like to offer a suggestion for future debates around this item, encouraging individuals to discuss the under-investigated class dimensions of the corset. Scholars often make very little acknowledgement of how middle-class women used corsets during the 18th and 19th century as part of their quest for upward mobility, and there is little theorizing on how this dimension of class applies to the contemporary usage of corsets. I contend that such discussion could spark new understandings of corsets’ symbolism, and could also benefit from a shift away from western-centric perspectives and instead take a multi-cultural comparative approach.

In conclusion, the corset emerges as a symbol grounded in complex, evolving meanings that have embodied both restriction and empowerment throughout history. While its modern reinterpretation often celebrates individual agency and artistic expression, its historical role as a tool of physical and societal constraint cannot be overlooked. By acknowledging its multifaceted past and embracing a broader, intersectional approach to its study, the corset can serve as a lens for understanding the interplay between fashion, gender, class, and cultural identity.

Bibliography

Erkal, Melis Mulazimoglu. “The Cultural History of the Corset and Gendered Body in Social and

Literary Landscapes.” European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, Oct. 2017, p. 153. https://doi.org/10.26417/ejis.v9i1.p153-153.

Steele, Valerie. The Corset : A Cultural History. Yale University Press, 2001.

Summers, Leigh. Bound to Please : A History of the Victorian Corset. Berg, 2001.