Corset Chronicle

Corsets have been worn by both men and women for hundreds of years. The form and construction techniques have been on a continual pattern of change and so have the components that are used. For you to develop the correct shape for you, you might be better informed if you have knowledge of the types of items available in today's marketplace.

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 develop this profile you must work to reshape the iherent shape and curves of a lady's body.

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. In order to ensure a comfortable fit you can only tighten the lacing so much, the rest of the support is provided 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 the corset you choose 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 located on the front of corsets to allow you the freedom to get into your corset without requesting help from anyone. The busk fasteners were developed near 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.