Elizabeth 1, while Princess, ~1545

Steele, p10. From painting in Royal Collection

In the 14th century, the tailors increasing skills enabled them to make garments which closely fitted the body, permitting a new emphasis to be placed on its shape. As women became more conscious of their bodies, they began to wear a stiffened linen underbodice, or ‘cotte’ under their bodices (roughly the equivalent of a modern shirt or jacket). At first this was used to provide a smooth foundation for the outer garments, but then tailors learnt how to use it to alter the shape of the body. The cotte was made from two layers of heavily starched coarse linen, to make it stiffer, and was often provided with lacing, initially so that it could be adjusted to fit the figure, and then to enable it to be tightened to modify the shape of the body.

In the 15th century this garment, which was often made in two pieces, became known as a ‘body’, or ‘pair of bodys’. It was usually an undergarment, but was sometimes finished with coloured fabric and worn as an outer garment. It still appears in this form in the traditional peasant dress of many European countries.

     


A sleeved pair of stays, in pink silk ~1660

Steele, p16. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
 

The first bodys were simple cones, and this gave the women's chests the straight geometrical line that is so apparent in 15th century portraits, like the one above. In this portrait the young Princess is probably wearing a body very like the one on the left. This straight line persisted virtually unchanged until the 19th century.

As time went on the bodys became more rigid, and began to incorporate stiffeners of wood or cane. In the 16th century the virtues of whalebone were discovered, and these stiffeners became known as ‘bones’. They are still called bones today, although now they are almost invariably made either of metal or plastic.

Also about this time the first busk was introduced. This was a straight strip of wood, metal, horn, whalebone or even ivory, which was fitted in a slot down the front of the body, and served to keep the front of the garment completely straight. It also made it impossible for the wearer to bend from the waist at all. The busk was usually removable, being held in place by a lace, and was often carved or painted.

Legend has it that a busk was sometimes given to a suitor as a token of the ladies affection, and that on occasion it was also used to administer a sharp blow to wandering hands.

 


 

     

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Steele, p 11. National Portrait Gallery, London
 

When it came to fashion, the men of the day were not going to let their womenfolk outdo them, and in this portrait Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, is almost certainly wearing some very similar undergarment.

Although men were never expected to wear corsets, as a matter of course, in the way that women were, they were widely worn among the upper classes, up until the 20th century.

 

The fashionable stay makers of the day attracted considerable fame. One, Cosins, was perhaps the most famous of them all. A lady of the day wrote about a former friend:

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.

She was my friend, I taught her first to spread,

Upon her sallow cheeks enlivening red.

I introduced her to the Park and plays:

And by my interest Cosins made her stays.

Ungrateful wretch! With mimic air grown pert,

She dares to steal my favourite lover's heart. (1)

Lady Mary Montague visited the Turkish baths of a harem in 1717. She was fascinated to watch the ladies enjoying themselves, but they insisted she should join them in the bath. Eventually

I was at last forced to open my skirt and show them my stays; which satisfied them very well, for they believed I was so locked up in that machine that it was not in my power to open it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband. (1)


The First Corsets

 

Mid 18th-century stays

Steele p22; Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

As the illustration on the left shows, stays remained an integral part of a woman's wardrobe, and retained their original conical shape, with only minor changes, until late in the 18th century. They also continued to be known as stays.

However about 1770 fashions started to move towards a simpler and looser style of dress. In 1785 The Lady's Magazine informed English women that "The French ladies never wear anything more than a quilted waistcoat, which is called un corset, without any kind of stiffening."

The French Revolution in 1789 introduced a new spirit of freedom and equality. "Aristocracy of dress", which included the stays, was frowned on, and clothing became lighter and freer, with more emphasis on the bosom and less on the waist.

Long, heavily boned stays remained relatively popular in England, where they were strongly associated with respectable sexual morality, but in France and to a lesser degree in America they were either omitted entirely, or replaced by shorter lightly boned garments. (2.)

These new lighter garments became known as corsets, presumably to emphasise the break with the past.

 

1. Iris Brooke: Dress and Undress p64

2. Valerie Steele The Corset; A Cultural History p22.

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