Corset History

Corsets have been worn by both men and women for the last several hundred years. The shaping forms and construction techniques have been changing similar to the changes in materials used. In order to develop the best shape for you, you should have an education of the types of items available in today's marketplace.

Shaping the Body with Corsets

The older corsets have usually produces figures with a minimal amount of curves or shapes. The breasts appear to be pressed down and their appearance changed to look minimized. To create this profile you have to reshape the general shape and curves of a female's body.

Corsets: Lacing, Boning and Busks

Any top quality corset design relys on two fundatmental factors: a) strength of boning used, and b) tightness of lacing. For the sake of comfort you can only lace so tightly, the boning provides the remainder of the support.

A good boning material is spring steel coated in nylon that provides a light color base and is made in an assortment of widths, lengths, and thicknesses. When selecting the spring steel boning for the best corset for you the thickness, and not the width, should be of primary importance. You are sure when you purchase a corset with the best steel boning because it is flexible and pliable, but it is very hard to bend it.

You are able to also find busks that open and are mainly used on the front of corsets to enable you to get into and out of your corset without help. These did not appear until around 1860 and began with the straight busk, the spoon busk appeared shortly afterward in about 1870. All of these items can be found in our online corset store.