Cultural Analysis of a Fashion Object

By Renée Kocian

10.08.21

Corsets: Sculpting Bodies and Culture

The object at hand is a black woven silk boned corset, with tiny blue and pink flowers. Made in Brussels as Madame Worth’s corset during the 1890’s.  It is currently in the hands of The Fashion Museum Bath, located in the United Kingdom and tells us a great deal about the culture of Europeans during the late 1800’s. The silk corset tells us that women of the 1800’s, while revered when high in social status and class, were thought of as objects meant to please men with their sexuality, only on a man’s terms, with total disregard for women in terms of health or freedom.

Madame Worth’s corset has four petite, metal clasps fastening the front and what is assumed to be silk ribbons tying together the back. The neckline of the corset is strapless and sits low, just below the bust, lifting slightly around the back of the form. Black lace is ruched along the upper rim of the corset and is placed so that only a centimeter of the two-inch embellishment is peeking up from the edge of the corset. Along the body of the form, under the flower adorned black silk, boning forms the corset into an extreme hourglass shape with the hips of the form widening in an exaggerated fashion that makes the waist and bust look even smaller in comparison. The corset is then trimmed in solid, black silk around the bottom edge which is cut in a V-shaped form, higher at the hips and lower towards the center of the corset. The coloring of the corset is also very interesting. Unlike the thin white lace corsets that woman wore as undergarments, this corset is clearly made to gain attention. It’s black, a sensual and mysterious color, but still has a touch of gentle femininity through the detailing of little blue and pink flowers.

  Being that this corset was made specifically for Madame Worth, the wife of the fashion designer that is said to have been the father of haute couture, we can assume that the materials used in making it were the finest of the time. Silk and lace are two major identifiers of class during the late 1800’s, but what might be less noticeable to the common eye is the craftsmanship of the corset boning. Whalebone was considered the pricier material for the time, and we can assume that Madame Worth would be wearing the finest of fashion due to her connection. 

  The function of the corset was to create a shapelier form for a woman’s body that was more appealing to the male gaze. It would minimize the waist to nearly half the size of the bust, lift the bust, and overemphasize the hips. There are multiple reasons for such purposes. In terms of sexuality, the corset was focusing male attention on a woman’s chest by lifting her bust without showing too much. By bringing the waist in, the woman appears more delicate and youthful, it also embellishes the bust and hips. In terms of marriage material, the corset made a woman’s hips look wider and therefore more suitable for birthing. In a time where many women and children died during childbirth, it was common for men to pick a wife not only based on social status and money, but also based on a woman’s ability to give him an heir.

  What is problematic about the corset is the health issues that can arise from it and the blatant disregard for woman’s health for the sake of aesthetics. Often, women were laced into corsets so tight that they would have trouble with everyday essential activities such as breathing, eating, and digesting. Ribcages would become deformed from constant restriction and internal organs were misplaced when waists were squeezed to unnatural sizes of sometimes even thirteen inches. These serious ailments could occasionally even lead to permanent deformities and disabilities, and yet the values society set on physical beauty and class status rang more important. Another problematic factor about corsets is the idea that it was used to sexualize woman according to what a man desired in a woman’s body measurement ratio, yet any woman who felt the need to express her sexuality without a man’s approval was considered promiscuous, indecent, and low in class. High class women were revered and treated well with the best of furs, silks, fashions, etc., but only if they molded themselves to the needs and wants of the patriarchy.  

  What is interesting is that many women wanted to wear corsets. Despite the health concerns and the painstakingness of it all, women felt beautiful and powerful because of the advantages the corset gave them in securing a husband and gaining a higher social status for not only themselves but their families. As you can see, Madame Worth’s corset in adorned with lace and has small blue and pink flowers woven into the silk. This indicates that Madame Worth wanted her corset to be seen. Despite the sexuality behind the piece, and the fact that she was considered high class, it was still approved of for someone of her stature to be seen wearing this. You can assume therefore that there were other young women of well means also wearing corsets that can be visibly seen because of the attention they would have gotten from them. This truly shows where values lied with people of the late 1800’s, they lied with money, class status, beauty, and the wants and needs of men.

While the demand for the corset has gone down incredibly since 1890, the corset has influenced centuries of fashion. Afterall, it really hasn’t been that long since women stopped wearing corsets, or very long since the women’s rights movement. It’s important to analyze how the correlation between fashion and culture has changed when some fashions are still influencing style today.