Corset Story

Corsets have been worn by both men and women for hundreds of years. The shaping forms and construction techniques have been changing and so have the basic types of items used. If you are trying to reproduce the shape you covet, you should have an education of the types of items available in today's marketplace.

Body Shaping Corsets

The corsets from earlier times have usually been those with a minimal amount of curves or shapes. The breasts appear to be pressed down and their shape changed to represent a minimized silouhette. To attain this straight silhouette you are having to "fight" the natural curves of most women’s bodies.

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 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.

A useful boning material is nylon cased spring steel that delivers a pale color base and is constructed in a wide variety of thicknesses, lengths, and widths. When specifying the steel boning 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 also use busk fasteners that open and are typically used with the front of corsets to allow you to dress yourself in the corset without assistance. The first appearance of a busk on a corset was 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.