2000BC

C14 to C18

Early C19

Mid C19

Late C19

C20/1

C20/2

C20/3

C20/4

C21/1

C21/2

  

French ladies at play 1853

Robinson p46. The Fine Art of Fashion

Until the 14th century, western clothing had consisted mainly of loose fitting robes, but as the mediaeval craft guilds became more organised, tailors began to learn how to cut fabrics to fit the human body. Once the tailors learnt how to make the waist more obvious human vanity ensured that they would soon start to think of ways to emphasise and modify it.

The first stays were little more than stiffened cloth cones that imparted a harsh geometric shape, so typical of Elizabethan portraits, to the woman's chest. The shape of womens dresses and accessories varied wildly, but the basic shape of the stays persisted, relatively unchanged, until the 19th century.

But then, as materials and techniques improved, the shape became more complex, and started to change ever more rapidly. Then, in the 20th century, the development of elastic fabrics revolutionised corsetry, and the rigid corset was largely supplanted by the elastic girdle.

There has recently been a modest resurgence in the popularity of the corset, both in high fashion, where it is usually worn as an outer garment, and in the fetish scene.

Mediaeval garments were fastened with belts and sashes. Buttons were developed in the 14th century, and appear on many effigies of the time, but they were only used for outer garments. Undergarments continued to be fastened with tapes and ribbons until the 17th century.

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