Corset History

There has been an attraction to corsets by both sexes for a long time - 100's of years. The construction techniques and the shapes they form have been upgraded with newer technology similar to the changes in materials used. In order to develop the best shape for you, you need to have an understanding of the materials available to you on today’s market.

Shaping the Body with Corsets

The older corsets are typically those with a minimal amount of curves. Your breast shape looks to be in compression and their appearance changed to look minimized. To create this profile you have to constrain and work against the typical shape and inherent curves of woman's body.

Busks and Boning

A successful corset design is related to two components: a) strength of boning used, and b) tightness of lacing. For the sake of comfort you can only lace up and tighten so much, the remainder of the support is done by the boning.

Steel boning is typically coated in nylon that is typically a light color and is created in a group of lengths, thicknesses, and widths. When selecting the spring steel boning for the best corset for you the width is of minor concern while your primary focus should be on the thickness. The steel boning characteristic makes a perfect corset because it is pliable and flexible, but it is nearly impossible to bend them.

You can sometimes find busk fasteners that open and are used in 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 started with a straight simple busk, the complications of the spoon busk was developed around 1870. These items can be found in either our online superstore or our online auctions.