The Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele
176 pages
Started: 9 February 2009
Finished: 1 April 2009
Such a focused study of fashion. This book traces the history of one particular article of clothing, the corset, from it’s early beginnings to how it is used today. It looks at the advertisements and beliefs about it from all different time periods, both the fashion ideas as well as the medical ideas. Most of the misunderstanding that people have about corsets today are probably tied more closely to tight-lacers than normal wearers of corsets. Corsets could be tied to several different medical problems, but they probably also helped correct a few as well. The style and construction of corsets has changed a great deal over time, as well as who wore them (both men and women) and when (both as children and as adults)
And the corset has not gone away in our time, it’s simply changed it’s form. Women now seek to control the curves of their figure through exercise, surgery, or even tight fitting undergarments.
One of my problems with the book was with the assumptions it made in a few areas. When analyzing corset advertisments, Steele frequently said she doubted the makers and viewers of the advertisement realized just how sexual the image was. If nobody at the time realized it was a sexual image, then it wasn’t. There were other advertisements that were clearly using sex to sell their corsets, so in those cases they knew what they were doing. But if it was not done on purpose and nobody viewed it as such, then I would argue that it was not done at all.
Rating: 8
