Corset Background

There has been an attraction to corsets by both sexes for the last several centuries. The form and construction methods have changed in both type and variety and so have the components and materials used. If you are trying to develop the desirable shape for you, you may be a better consumer if you have an understanding of the variety of items used in today's corsets.

Body Shaping and Corsets

The earlier corsets tend to be those with the least amount of curves. Your breast shape tends to be compressed and provide the appearance of a minimized breast profile. To create this shape you have to compress and reshape the regular curves and general shape of a woman's body.

All About Busks, Lacing, and Boning

The design of a corset is dependent on two underlying factors to be successful: a) the properties of the boning material, and b) how tight you can snug up the lacing. To ensure comfortable wear you are only able to tighten the laces so much, the boning provides the remainder of the support.

A popular boning material is nylon coated spring steel that is usually a lighter color and is created in a group of lengths, thicknesses, and widths. When you are looking to select steel boning for your favorite corset style the thickness is of primary importance. When the right spring steel is used it is clearly flexible but is is extremely difficult to bend.

There are also busks which open and are used in the front of corsets to enable you to get into and out of your corset without help. The busk fasteners were developed near 1860 and initiated with the straight busk, the more intricate spoon busk followed. Both of these items can be located in our online corset superstore.