Fashion History Blog

Taking a Break from Blogging…

Silhouettes — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 06:19:18 +0000

… to work on customer projects. We’ll pick up on corsets when we get back. In the meantime, take note of the new “Projects”! Lots of good stuff happening.

The spoon busk allowed extremely

Silhouettes — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 03:16:37 +0000

restrictive and tightly cinching corsets to be made. One model of the early 1880’s had 20 shaped pieces and 16 whalebones on each, as well as the spoon busk.

(Catalog page from 1886 showing multi-pieced corsets with spoon busks)

Today’s spoon busks are very strong

Silhouettes — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 02:49:21 +0000

and very expensive, but they still do the same job of tucking in the tummy to make a lovely flat front of the skirt.

(1873 patent sketches with photo of modern spoon busks which now come in many finishes, colors, and weights)

In 1873, the invention of a spoon shaped busk

Silhouettes — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 02:48:12 +0000

that looked somewhat like a soup ladel (“busk en poire”) had been invented, and was a key innovation to keeping the tummy tucked in, and handling the torque between top and bottom until about 1889 when the next style of corset would take over.

(Extant corset and pattern of the basic basque model 1880’s corset. This was worn throughout the decade and into the 1890’s as well)

Today’s spoon busks are very strong and very expensive

In the 1880’s, two main styles of corset construction continued

Silhouettes — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 02:39:45 +0000

the same as in the mid-19th century: either with gussets and a basque, or in separate shaped pieces (like in the 1860’s).

(1880’s Norwegian gusseted extant corset and photo of the type of silhouette it made)

Prior to the 1880’s, whalebone was used almost exclusively for

Silhouettes — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 07:20:14 +0000

boning in corsets. Whalebone is actually whale baleen, the cartiledge from a whale’s mouth. It was basically stiff, but had enough flexibility or elasticity to work well with curves. Unlike modern plastics which have been used to replace it today, whalebone would not re-shape with body heat or vary with air temperature.

(Whalebone is actually whale baleen, cartilege from a whale’s mouth as shown in this diagram and in real life)

By the early 1880’s, whalebone was

Silhouettes — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 07:19:14 +0000

in such high demand that it became scarce and very expensive, so substitutes such as cane were used for boning (stiffening) corsets.

(Extant 1880’s corset lightly boned with whale baleen and cording)

Various methods of boning were tested,

Silhouettes — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:35:52 +0000

and steel became used more and more.

(1876 and 1887 extant corsets showing metal, reed, and corded boning)

In the 1880’s, since women were so very different in shape

Silhouettes — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:35:06 +0000

and size (and we might add “squishiness”, the great difficulty became how to keep the long armorlike look on every woman without the corset riding up and wrinkling, and the bones from breaking at the hips (which happened often going from extremely full hip and bust to a very tiny waist region).

(1880: many sizes and shapes of women)

The new “cuirasse” body of the late 1870’s

Silhouettes — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 05:24:23 +0000

and early 1880’s enveloped the hips, waist, and upper torso.

(Extant and photo: early 1880 cuirasse bodice and long corset)