Lingerie. Klaus H. Carl

structural frame to a building, except in the case of corsetry the framework is positioned over a pre-existing foundation: the female body. The role of corsetry is to mold the figure and to impose the shapes of fashion upon it. To this end corsetry is used to transform three key body parts: waist, bust, and hips, the three areas upon which a new silhouette is constructed.

      Corset concealer

      Stiches and lace

      Musées d’Art et d’Histoire, Troyes

      In Underwear Through the Ages, Armand Silvestre describes a “proper corset“ in the following terms: The top should be flared enough to support the breasts without constricting them; the armholes should be very deep; the cloth facings should be thin, correctly placed, and supple […] finally, it should fit over the whole pelvis, resting solidly on the hips and following the natural lines of the sides.

      Crinoline underskirt

      c. 1865

      White cotton, wicker frame, Inv.2003.75.X

      Musée Galliera, Paris

      Corsetry thus accentuates the body’s natural curves and enables the figure to conform to new lines. It can give a round, uplifted, shapely, or flat bust; a more or less slender, invisible, or extremely obvious waist; and it can slim down or widen the hips. Imposing the demands of fashion upon the body, corsetry often goes against nature.

      Sport or summer corset and underskirt with bustle (called “crabtail”)

      1875–80

      Inv. 1920.1.968 Inv. 2003.73.X

      Musée Galliera, Paris

      And as much as lingerie belongs to the realm of intimacy, corsetry is tied to external appearance. It is her corsetry that turns a woman wearing a dress into a fashion plate. The corsetry category includes underclothes such as whalebone bodies, corsets, girdles, guêpières, bustiers, farthingales, panniers, and crinolines. A piece of corsetry is made up of internal reinforcements that constrict and control the body.

      Summer corset

      1875–1880

      Inv. 1920.1.968