Corset Lowdown

Corsets have been attractive to both women and men for many centuries. The types of shapes and construction techniques have changed over time. and so have the components that are used. For you to create the figure you desire, you need to have an education of the types of materials used in today's corsets.

Corsets and Body Shaping

The corsets from earlier times have usually been those with minimal amounts of reshaping. The breasts look to be constrained and their appearance reshaped. To attain this straight silhouette you are having to "fight" the natural curves of most women’s bodies.

Boning, Busks and Other Corset Techniques

Any top quality corset design relys on two fundatmental factors: a) the type of material used in the boning, and b) the amount of tightening allowed by the lacing design. To ensure you are comfortable while wearing your corset you can only tighten and lace up to a point, the remainder of the functionality is provided by the support delivered by the boning.

A fine choice in boning is the use of spring steel cased in nylon that is usually light in color and is delivered in a variety of thicknesses, widths and lengths. When looking for a particular type of spring steel for your choice in corsets the width is secondary to the thickness. When the correct thickness of spring steel is used it is flexible but it is very hard to bend.

You can use busks that open and are usually located on the front of corsets to enable you to put on your corset without assistance. The earliest busks were invented around 1860 and began with straight busks, the elaborate and intricate spoon busk was invented a decade later. The entire collection of thse corsets can be found in our online auctions or superstore.