Corset Lowdown

Corsets have been attractive to both women and men for hundreds of years. Shapes and construction techniques have varied. and so have the components that are used. For you to create the figure you desire, you need to have an education of the materials and items you can choose from.

Corsets and Body Shaping

The earlier corsets have usually been those with minimal amounts of reshaping. The breast flesh appears to be pressed down and their shape changed to represent a minimized silouhette. To create this silhouette you are having to "fight" 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) the type of material used in the boning, and b) the tightening level allowed by the lacing. 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.

One of the most popular types of boning is steel boning covered in nylon that is usually light in color and is delivered in a variety of thicknesses, widths and lengths. When you select a 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 really flexible but it is almost impossible to bend.

You can construct a corset with busks that open and are usually located on the front of corsets to enable you to put on your corset without assistance. The busks were created in the 1860's 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.