Beautiful Lady

The corset is derived from the Old French word 'cors', the diminutive of body, which itself derives from 'corpus' - Latin for body. This reflecting the garments original purpose in shaping the body.

The most common and well-known use for a corset is to slim the body and make it conform to a fashionable silhouette. For women this most frequently emphasizes a curvy figure, by reducing the waist, and thereby exaggerating the bust and hips. We we talk about a specific shape achieved by wearing a corset this is the shape that we tend to think about. However, in some fashion periods, corsets have been worn to achieve an almost tubular straight-up-and-down shape, which involved minimizing the bust and hips. This was in a period when a 'boy-ish' look was popular.

An over-bust corset encloses the torso, extending from just under the arms to the hips. An under-bust corset begins just under the breasts and extends down to the hips. Some corsets extend over the hips and, in very rare instances, some corsets have been know reach the knees . A shorter kind of corset, which covers the waist area (from low on the ribs to just above the hips), is called a 'waist cincher'. A corset may also include suspenders to hold up stockings (alternatively a separate suspender belt may be worn for that). Normally a corset supports the visible dress, and spreads the pressure from large dresses, such as the crinoline and bustle. Sometimes a corset cover is used to protect outer clothes from the corset and to smooth the lines of the corset.