Corset Story

Corsets have been attractive to both men and women for centuries. The form and construction techniques have been on a continual pattern of change and so have the components that are used. If you are trying to reproduce the shape you covet, 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 appear to be pressed down and their shape changed to represent a minimized silouhette. 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 the inclusion of a simple busk, 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.