Corsets: Because Every Woman Has a Figure Problem

I do not agree!

I think corsets are comfortable, because they support the back and force me to maintain a good posture. Both my mother and my mother-in-law wear them. They have special corsets for bad backs, and it helps them a lot.

By the way, I think that they do give a good-looking figure as well, with a nice hourglass form. Unfortunately they are expensive and not really compatible with modern clothing.

Panty hoses on the other hand, eew! Luckily there still exist long stockings to fasten in the corset ;-)

I am an opera singer and have worn many corsets under costumes over the years. I actually like them. The one thing you really can't do once they're on is tie your shoes. Shoes have to go on first or you're gonna need help. I corset, despite what you may have read in Gone With the Wind, shouldn't be so tight that you can't breathe, might faint, or might bring your lunch back up. Cotten corsets, like the ones worn under costume, tend to relax to fit your shape. All that being said, no WAY would I wear one for my own purposes. Too inconvenient! Too bulky! Too hot!

I like corsets... I don't wear one though, because they're annoying and hard to tie tightly enough by yourself, and wearing one during intense activity like I participate in would just not be a good idea. My SO and I have thought about buying one though.

I don't even like shoulder pads in a jacket. Feels like I'm wearing a backpack or something. And they make women look like androgynes.

Corsets make women look like wasps. Forget it. I like my women to look as close to natural as possible. To question "What are you?" is not very attractive.

Great posting - I'm always fascinated on the ways advertising has - and hasn't - changed.

Corsets have changed, though. There's an excellent summary on the topic here. My favorite quote from the article:

Women today expect the perfect figure to come from inside, with dieting and exercise, not from restraint on the outside. While the lean, athletic figure is now seen as a function of freedom and feminism, says McTeer, “the goal still is to look smooth and under control. The ideal is the same, the means to achieve it have changed.”

I had a corset to wear under my wedding dress to make the silhouette smoother. It was horrible...it made my dress too big and it itched and the boning kept poking me in the side. Although, my husband DID think it looked kind of sexy. Not something I'd wear all the time though.

Oh, and I HATE pantyhose. I avoid them whenever possible just because they are so tight and itchy and uncomfortable.

I stand corrected and amazed that not all women despise corsets along with me! Perhaps I had a bad experience with one, along the lines of comfort.

But, along the "symbolic" lines of corsets, I will say that I still despise them! I think they hold a standard which is unrealistic, and fake. They are simply not for me.

Health purposes are one validation, but societal standards are a different story...

I like my curves the way they are. I don't want to smush them around.

I really don't mind pantyhose. But I had wiring in my bra already, forget it about a corset.

Now, those super tall panties that come to under your bra are great under lighter-fabric dresses, and they are not uncomfortable at all.

hate*, not had.

Panty hose are disgusting. They are hot and make my skin smell bad. As for a corset, maybe I would try one if it was velcro and would release immediately. All in all, women's undergarments are scary and confusing. Too bad I have to wear them.

I kind of like corsets. I have one I wear under my Renaissance Festival costume and I wish I could wear it more often. It supports my very large bust beautifully without shoulder straps (no bra straps digging in) and smooths out the "bra bulges" on my back. It also forces me to sit and stand more upright, thereby helping my bad back. As someone else mentioned, about the only thing I can't do in my corset is tie my shoes, but my RenFest shoes are slip-on's so that's not a problem. It can be a little uncomfortable when it gets hot, though. But I find any underwear is uncomfortable in hot weather.

I have no idea how women wore those things as I have enough trouble putting on my jeans when they came right out of the wash. Hopefully this way of dressing is over.

I think they are a torment, im glad we dont need to wear them anymore and that it is an optional garment. But im just disturbed by the ad....so all this marketing and brainwashing about how a woman's shape should look has been torturing our femenine psychology for how long now? This is ridiculous!!

I wear corsets pretty often. I am very interested in tightlacing. I found mine pretty comfy and supportive. Everything you do looks so graceful.

To be comfortable you must wear an protective chemise under the corset. The corset must be somewhat high-quality. Lingerie corsets DO NOT COUNT.

I also wear my corset for Renaissance Festivals and it makes me feel so gorgeous. I highly recommend them if you can pull off the look.

That was in the case of olden times and now more often in certain youth scenes like Goth, where women had to wear corsets to look curvy.

Being an unconventional and old-fashioned young lady, I find that corsets smooth my stomach and support my bosom. They smooth bulges made by tight jeans and skirts. Girdles are also very useful, and it feels so . . . I don't know, sophisticated to wear undergarments to hide stray curves. I can be myself whenever I want. . . but being someone else can be really fun sometimes.
To add to what the other women have said . . . pantyhose aren't that bad, as long as you get the cheaper kind that breathe well . . . and you can throw them away if the feet wear out.
Slips are also becoming out of style. . . they prevent embarrassing, ahh .. . wedgies.

As to the comment about how oppressive the clothes would be to put on tight jeans, i think part of the point of the article was that ads use brainwashing to tell you how you should Look, and what you should show. If you are wearing jeans that are that tight, they are probably too tight (like most women) and you show allll your curves and butt in tight jeans. There is a point in between totally natural and overly exposed that is comfortable, put together looking, and allows a woman to show what she wants when she wants.

I'm just old enough to remember the 1960s when light girdles were the "natural" thing to wear. Believe me, not more uncomfortable/ restricting than tight Levis today. However, in the 60s frim control garments wre still thought essential for best wear. I have been really uncomfortable in boned girdle, boned long line bra asa teenager. And they could be hot too. At that time you were not expected to llok relaxed in best wear, so - in context, not restricting.

Annie

I'm an actor/singer/dancer so as per period costuming I've worn quite a few corsets and have even figured out how to sing/breathe in them no matter how tightly they are laced. Some are comfortable, and some aren't, obviously the boning in important in that aspect as well as the fact that many garments today are marketed as corsets, and aren't really true corsets. Many of them are more uncomfortable then true corsets are. My body in and of itself conforms to standardly sized corset measurements so I wouldn't need one except where costumes dictate.

I was required to wear corsets in the convent. It made the habit lay nicely, but damnation, those staves nearly killed me! I am a large lady and staves don't lay smoothly - they stick and jab. They stuck and jabbed my poor widdle midriff.

I was born in 1941. I can see how even then the advertising said "You are not okay the way you are. You need xxxx product." Grrrrr! I detest manipulative marketing that plays on innocence, 'specially when they "got" moi!

Well, thank god for being able to reason my way out of this dank, dark sack!

Pat Matson
The Wise Weight Woman
www.theworldofwithin.com

Brandy said:
All in all, women's undergarments are scary and confusing. Too bad I have to wear them.[...]

Says who? =D

I'm 22 and have been wearing corsets for the best part of the last decade. I think they are gorgeous and proper fitted ones are very comfortable - I have a much harder time with high heels and avoid them like the ebola virus! I have a terible natural posture and my back would ache if I didn't wear them. Fortunately, I have an hour glass figure, so they mould to fit my shape. Although I can sort of understand how less naturally curvy women might find them restrictive. I have never found corsets to be too hot, but then I live in rainy England, so any added warmth is a bonus!

I'm not entirely sure what a pantyhose is, so I can't comment there.

I have worn corsets and otherfoundation wear for many years and very rarely find them uncomfortable.
I wore an extra long Vollers corset under my wedding dress and it felt fantastic. What a lot of women forget is that you cannot just put on a proper corset and expect to be at ease with it straight away. They need to comply to your body shape which will atke a while, also you should not try and lace it tight to quickly, do it over a period of time. I wore my wedding corset for about a month before the big day so it would fit and feel perfect, and it did. I love tights (panythose) but not with a corset because of he obvious problems of going to thee loo? As the old adage goes "you get what you pay for", buy a decent corset or foundation wear and you will be comfortable but do not expect it straight away, get used to it first. By the way if you are thinking that i might be pensioner i am not, i am 38!

Never tried a corset, but I am convinced that pantyhose are from hell. I haven't worn a pair since I moved out of my parents house and away from their nutty ideas of how I should dress and wear my hair. (They made sure I never had a boyfriend in high school ha ha)

The word "corset" carries a lot of history with it, causing adverse reaction in some. Large busted women find them infinitely more comfortable than underwire bra's for example. As has been pointed out above, those of us who have rediscovered corsets generally have a positive reaction. Of course, poorly made, flimsy styles don't help and don't wear well. The modern makers make truly beautiful garments, and I have been enjoying wearing them for many years and can highly recommend them to anyone who has to stand a lot, or sit in front of a computer terminal. It needs to be fitted properly, otherwise it can be uncomfortable. They are supportive and just give a great look.

I use modern day corsets...control top panty hose. I can so tell, it takes the jiggle out of my wiggle in 30 seconds flat. When I wear certain type dresses, if I don't have on my control top, my rear end looks like (this is what my mom said, thanks mother), "pigs fighting in a blanket". When I have them on, people assume I exercise. Which I do, it's just things like: getting out of bed, walking from my car to the office, picking up donuts, etc.

Thank you Sheer Energy!

I love corsets. They're just beautiful and sexy, esepcially Victorian-style corsets. It makes the girls move north and the rolls move south.

If you've worn a corset and found it uncomfortable, it could be for several reasons:

1) it was too tight.
2) it was poorly made
3) a million other things.

If you bought a corset for less than $100, you probably bought a cheap piece of junk with plastic boning. The corsets they sell at Torrid and Frederick's are not true corsets at all. Try brands like Vollers or go to absolutecorsets.com.

You know they make Spanx now, right? You don't need a corset, you can just "wear your lycra" in the words of Dolly Parton.

Hi. I am 19 years old and I love corsets. I have the underbust kind.I have one on right now. I love the way I look and feel on the inside. i slouch really bad and the corset forces me to stand up straight. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it makes my really small breast look kinda ugly. But it gives me the shape I wis I had normally well mostly it doese. It also either pushes all me fat to the top or to the bottom of the corset makking either a lump at the tom or my hips look kinda ugly. I love the colors of my corset also. For 4 years I've been looking for a good corset that wasn't like 500 dollars and this year I finally did. It cost a 100 instead. i do admit they are a bit expesive but considering that hardly anybody else has one and all the other amasing qzulities of it I feel I did really well. I deffinity will be buying more as time goes along. As for panty hoes. I hate them with a passion. I think it makes people look ugly. and as far as that commercial goes it makes me angry. Stupid people