Part 1 - instead of a foreword:

The idea for this post came to me a few days ago when I was working on a mod project for Skyrim, which involves creating a catsuit with clear fetish aspects, for which a corset is also planned.

The corset itself is probably one of the most controversial garments of modern times - it was e.g. misused for political campaigns in the late 19th century - alleged medical knowledge of orthopedics was copied from the fetish literature of the same time (e.g. average waist sizes).

Even today, a woman or even a man who visibly wears a corset in public experiences very different reactions.

My personal connection to this topic:

I am a self-confessed corset fetishist and have been since I was 15 years old and have several years of practical experience in the so-called "continuous wearing" of the same - so you know what is fiction and what is feasible reality.

I was inspired for historical fashion by costume films from the 1960s and 1970s - which mainly played in the baroque or rococo period but also had the Gründerzeit (2nd half of the 19th century) as their theme (e.g. "Effi Briest") . From a public library I borrowed the standard work on the subject from "The History of the Costume". When reading about the clothing of the time mentioned above, I realized that this outer form is not possible without wearing a certain piece of clothing -> the corset.

From then on I was literally "triggered" - I dived deeper and deeper into this topic.

And this is where my family background comes into play:

I am descended from tailors on my father's and mother's side.

My mother's father was a master tailor - worked for women and men in the 1920s and 1930s - since he died in World War II, his wife (my grandmother) continued the craft - even as a pensioner she still sewed for relatives and brought it to my mother - who made some of the clothes for our family in her spare time.

I grew up with "needle and thread" (also the sewing machine) - I knew from childhood on patterns, fabrics and seams.

No - I never wanted to be a seamstress - but it was an interesting hobby and the history of fashion was an important topic for me.

In the other (paternal) branch, my father's mother was a trained seamstress. She had learned the trade of a seamstress in Breslau in the 1920s and worked there until she moved to Wilhelmshafen in the mid-1930s. There she also worked in a studio for the wives of the captains of overseas ships. She already learned how to make women's corsets during her apprenticeship - because these were still worn by women at the time - because you have to read fashion history more closely...

...even if something is "unfashionable" does not mean that all women follow this fashion and throw away all other clothes!

yes - Coco Channel "revived" women's fashion during WW1 - but the corset didn't go away from women overnight.

Part 2 - Brief historical outline (no claim to completeness)

Already in ancient times there were approaches to emphasize the waist of a woman or to "hold" the breast

one of the best-known representations is the snake woman, which is attributed to the Minoan culture (1500 BC on Crete).

In the Middle Ages, the bodice developed as outer clothing - which is closed either with buttons or with a lacing

Here is a depiction of Mary from around 1450

However, the age of body shaping only began in the 16th century with the Spanish court fashion - which was not possible without a corset aka corset.

The cone-shaped upper body was created by a "lace-up chest" - which often completely covered the breasts and only reached to the waist at the back and sides.

Only the front-front went deeper - partly to the beginning of the Venus hill - he should have a flat stomach.

The following picture shows not only women were subject to this form dictate - but also the men - their armor cuirasses had a similar shaping effect on the upper body

The court attire of the English Tudor period initially adopted the Spanish model - however, this slowly changed under Elizabeth and approached the French court fashion - which did not flatten the breasts completely, but pushed them up quite a bit

Here is a picture of the young English queen

Even the baroque could not do without a corset for shaping - whereby the focus shifted more and more towards emphasizing the female body (especially the breasts).

In the playful rococo style, the corset served to emphasize the female charms to the maximum

(The lady in the blue dress has been hanging in the family living room as a reproduction for 45 years - first with my parents and then with me)

In the time of classicism (end of the 18th century, women's fashion became much more objective - the influence of England increasingly dominated through cotton, which made much lighter fabrics possible than French silk.

One should consider that the working population could not afford silk robes anyway and those who work physically can only do so to a very limited extent in a corset.

With the revolution of 1789, not only the Bastille but also the court dress and with it the lace breast.

The pendulum swung completely in the opposite direction and in the cooler season the fashion-conscious woman wore a flesh-colored undergarment

Revolutions come and go and when they go comes the "Restoration" - which was called "Biedermeier" in the 19th century

The rule of the English Queen Victoria gave its name to a whole age - of course also to fashion and so today one also speaks of "Victorian" corsets - their shapes are the most common models for modern corsets - almost every manufacturer will use it to " Victorian" corsets have...

..but that's not so easy to say due to the large number of shapes and variants.

In the beginning, around 1850-1865, there was the time of the huge hoop skirts - called crinolines - although it was already the second

the first was associated with Rococo - skirts then being oval in shape

The second crinoline era had round skirts - at the peak the length (circumference) of the skirtsames (bottom edge) was -> 6 meters!!

What did that look like then? - I just say -> "Gone with the wind" or "Sissi"

Around 1870, skirts became more normal again - if you consider a pillow on the bottom as normal

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cul_de_Paris

The whole thing is also known as the time of the "bustle" and shaped women's fashion in the "Gründerzeit" from 1870-1890

In English it is called "bustle dress" and I have 3 reproductions of it - two street dresses and an evening dress with a long train

One of the day dresses shot here in a small bar.

But there was also a brief era of very, very tight skirts during this period - the proverbial "hobble skirt" was created at this time

After the death of Queen Victoria, the fashion age named after her also ended - her successor (King Edward) was the namesake

for the period from 1900 to the beginning of the First World War.

But people who are not so well versed in fashion history know the actual name of this time -> Art Nouveau era

A quote from an article about that time sums it up nicely

"The Edwardian fashions of high, stretching collars, S-shaped corsets, elaborate headdresses and sumptuous furs lend the ladies a stately dignity. The hourglass figure is en vogue, as is wearing copious amounts of jewellery. Edwardian jewels are strikingly feminine, graceful with a lace-like edge , delicate design in platinum on yellow gold and set all over with diamonds. Rarely, high-quality colored gemstones are used as focal points of a piece of jewellery. The favorites of the "white age" remain diamonds, pearls and moonstones."

( https://www.ernstfaerber.com/epoch/edwardian/ )

The corsets designed at this time are much more complex in their cut design than those from the Victorian era - because of the high amount of work involved, you won't find them in "normal" corset shops.

Very few corset tailors on this planet have mastered this art.

And as it is then - the peak of the possible development of a technology is reached and then it almost completely disappears.

Yes - Coco Chanel put the corset out of fashion - something 40 years of the dress reform movement had NOT managed to do.

Because these were just awkward! However, a woman would like to wear something nice and fashionable if she (or her spouse) can afford it.

And that's exactly what Mrs. Chanel managed to do with her fashion of elastic fabrics born out of necessity - which were unsuitable for classic Edwardian (i.e. Art Nouveau) dresses.

But it was the First World War and "normal" fabrics had become scarce.

In the spiritual and cultural restoration after the 2nd World War, the corset officially came back into women's fashion with the "New Look" - the narrow waists were simply not feasible otherwise - even the slimmest mannequins were still too "lush around the waist "

And at some point a singer called "Madonna" came along and turned the fashion liberation of women upside down.

Fashionable dictates such as "skirt hem below the knee this season" no longer exist - self-confidence and emancipation are shown in the free choice of what to wear.

And some also wear a corset from time to time - today even visible as outer clothing.

Men in corsets?

It had always existed - breastplates already fulfilled this function in Spanish court fashion

In the second half of the 19th century, the armies of Europe had mounted guard regiments - their parade uniforms had a cuirass that was so tight at the waist that it could not be worn without a corset.

The narrow waist of a young Guards lieutenant came through a discreetly worn men's corset.

The "shoulder straps" correcting the posture of the upper body also date from this time and are a popular detail today

"Im Gegensatz zu den vorherrschenden Korsettformen weist das Straight-Front S-Line Korsett einige Besonderheiten in der Schnitt- und Linienführung auf, die entgegen verbreiteter Vorbehalte jedoch dafür Sorge tragen, daß dieses Korsett nicht nur einen exellenten Tragekomfort bietet, sondern darüber hinaus eine 'traumhafte' Silhoulette zaubert und gleichzeitig für eine aufrechte Haltung sorgt.

Aus diesem Grund werden diese Korsetts auch als 'Haltungskorsetts' bezeichnet, in denen alle modischen Aspekte berücksichtigt werden können.

Die Silhoulette ergibt sich ausschließlich aus der Schnittgestaltung.

Die Verwendung von 'Zwangsführungen' durch besonders starke oder speziell geformte Federstähle o.ä., die sich un- vorteilhaft auf den Tragekomfort auswir- ken würden, ist in den hier gezeigten Korsetts nicht vorgesehen."

Part 3 - What types of corsets and lace-up breasts are there?

A picture often says more than a thousand words

for the 16th to the end of the 18th century one speaks of the "lacing breast"

that they have no relevance for the work in progress fetish mod - I will not go into detail

(yes - I have reproductions of dresses from the Tudor era - Baroque and Rococo and of course I also have the "tie chest" needed for semi-authentic wear - a 19th century corset just does NOT go with them!)

From today's point of view, from the 19th century people are talking about the "corset" - whereby the term "Victorian" can/should actually only be applied to the models from the period from 1844 to 1880 - but the (desired) "hourglass" shape It's not just for corsets from the Victorian era.

If you look at the shop page of a corset tailor, they usually correctly state the epoch (period) and the shape of their corset.

However, if you search the Internet for terms such as "corset", the hits are initially used on the part of pure shops for terms such as "underbust" or "Victorian" simply as keywords for sales - the purest confusion of terms.

So first the basic shapes

a) Waist corset

does not really exist until 1904/05 - developed from the riding corset

riding corset?

Women have always ridden in a "laced chest" or "corset" - only they used the "lady's saddle" for this - so they sat on the side.

Anyone who has tried it knows how complex (difficult) it is to keep the balance and an Austrian empress ("Sissi") took part in fox hunts - so she also jumped over obstacles on horseback.

The extremely short waist corset also allowed women to use men's saddles and...

..yes - the corset also supported/fixed the woman's chest - even if it did NOT go over the chest - because women ALWAYS wore at least one shirt under the corset

and in the combination of (underbust) corset and shirt it works like a brassiere!

(In addition, the riding jacket is extremely precisely tailored to the body - which is an additional fixation.)

b) underbust corset

the most commonly produced and sold/worn version of the corset - then as now

it is also the "easiest" to make - because the tailor only has to deal with the shapes and measurements of the body from the hips to the waist to the bottom of the bust - which is complex enough as it is.

including the shape and size of the breasts effectively doubles the effort.

(in a woman, the two breasts are not really symmetrical - I have experienced this myself professionally where the difference was 1/2 cup)

(and I know myself what I'm talking/writing about here - after all, corsets and brassieres are the most complex parts in the area of creating a pattern - every prospective fashion designer learns that at fashion school and I have a few graduates from such schools myself worked in their studios)

c) overbust corset

the classic "tie breast" up to the end of the 18th century was ALWAYS overbust - it was supposed to move the breasts "up" and thus shape the décolleté

from 1820 (Biedermaier) to the beginning of 1850, the corsets of the 19th century were mostly overbust corsets - from then on women used the underbust version

In contrast to earlier times, today's corsets are used as outerwear - they are therefore visible and determine the appearance of the wearer as an optical eye-catcher. This is why overbust corsets are so popular today and there are far more variants today than in the 19th century

d) Special form S-Line

see "1901"

a text quote from the following page

http://www.the-ardent-collection.com/index.php/en/historical-corsets/corset-style-s-line.html

"Under the pressure of a new fashion silhouette with particular emphasis on an extremely narrow waist, the S-Line corset developed from the "straight front" corset style at the beginning of the 20th century. The women of that era increasingly realized that this new corset shape, stronger lacing was also possible for a narrower waist, i.e. the waist-hip jump could be larger.The empire corset was ultimately a further development from this with a new, very slim silhouette, which was both in the form of a straight-front and were also offered as S-Line corsets. Here the emphasis was on the heavily compressed hips."

Since I have a corset like that myself...

..no, it does NOT create an extreme hollow back, but the cut brings the body more into the "vertical" position than the "Victorian" corsets

and their characteristic is the straight front - i.e. the corset closure (the planchette) is no longer bent inwards and therefore does not press more into the abdominal cavity.

This makes it even more comfortable to wear!

The waist is almost completely reduced from the side - hence the optically very accentuated "jump" from waist to (lateral) hip

The whole thing can then be enhanced enormously with additional optical elements such as different (changing) colors for the patterned parts.

e) Special form "Edwardian" corset

see "1911"

from today's point of view an extreme postural corset - since it reaches from the lower edge of the chest to the base of the crotch and completely encloses the hips.

Sitting in it was already very difficult to implement - but since it massively modeled the woman's hips in the sense of the "Art Nouveau" silhouette, it was worn.

Even the corsets around 1880 were "constructed" in such a way that they gave away the hips for the extremely narrow long hobble skirts

(compare the models before and after 1880 on the overview above - they are much shorter at the hips)

it is from them that today's "discipline corsets" emerged

f) discipline corsets

are actually a pure fetish or BDSM variant - because they move the lower end of the corset to the middle of the thighs or even the upper edge of the knees...

..sitting is no longer possible!

(and that's exactly what the game between dominant and submessive corset-wearing part is all about)

g) Special form "Straight-Front S-Line Corset"

is almost a contemporary combination of "straight front" with "S-Line" - an absolute special model for the

http://www.the-ardent-collection.com/index.php/en/historical-corsets/corset-style-s-line/s-line-korsets.html

"In contrast to the prevailing corset shapes, the straight-front S-Line corset has some special features in the cut and line, which, contrary to widespread reservations, ensure that this corset not only offers excellent wearing comfort, but also a ' dreamlike' silhouette and at the same time ensures an upright posture.

For this reason, these corsets are also known as 'posture corsets', in which all fashion aspects can be taken into account.

The silhouette results exclusively from the cut design.

The use of 'forced guidance' by means of particularly strong or specially shaped spring steel or similar, which would have an adverse effect on the wearing comfort, is not intended in the corsets shown here."

Today's corset tailors try to adapt the corset to the needs of today and their wearers on the basis of the old cuts.

No - there are no ready-made patterns as you know them from fashion magazines like Burda, for example.

No - corsets are only a secondary topic at fashion schools and there are no lessons in making tailor-made cuts.

Anyone who wants to create a corset for themselves or for others must actually start from ZERO and build their own system from the not-to-scale depiction of historical pattern templates...

..when the corset is made for the purpose of achieving an actual REDUCTION, e.g. of the waist

and as this figure shows, there are many interpretations of what can be done with these "base" cuts or "base" models

Crowder arbeitet im zweiten Stock eines zweistöckigen Bungalows im Kunsthandwerksstil, den sie und Cady in Harrison in der Nähe der 55th Street teilen, und kreiert speziell entworfene Korsetts für Kunden auf der ganzen Welt. Für diejenigen, die ihre Kurven auf die Spitze treiben wollen, ist das beliebte Hourglass-Korsett eine „ausgezeichnete Wahl für den gelegentlichen Tightlacer“. Da ist das Numan-Korsett, das für „größere Männer“ entworfen wurde. Und für feuchte Sommermonate geben belüftete Korsetts aus Polyester und Baumwolltwill Körperwärme ab. Es gibt jedoch keine Befreiung vom Disziplinkorsett – das sich von der Brust bis zur Mitte des Oberschenkels erstreckt und manchmal bis zu 50 Fuß Schnürsenkel enthält – bis eine barmherzige Domina beschließt, den unterwürfigen Korsett zu befreien. Der wahrhaft Bußfertige kann den Sarkophag bestellen, ein Disziplinierungskorsett, das von der Brust bis zum Knöchel reicht.

Variante von Vollers-Korsett

Variante von TomTo aus Berlin

Bin sehr stolz eines der ersten Modell damals gekauft zu haben - das war zwar ein "Konfektions"-Korsett aber die nötigen Änderungen für meinen Körper waren bei dem Schnitt derart gering das sie gleich beim Zuschneiden und Nähen ohne zusätzlichen Arbeitsaufwand mit eingefügt werden konnten

(was ein Charakteristikum dieser Korsett-Manufaktur ist)

Crowder blätterte in muffigen Büchern über das Kleidungsstück, das oft als quälend beschrieben wird. Sie las erschreckende Geschichten über gebrochene Rippen und in zwei Hälften geschnittene Lebern. Sie blätterte vergilbte Bilder von sadistischen Gouvernanten, die jungen Schützlingen den Atem raubten.

Eingefleischte Tightlacers drückten ihre Taille auf 16 Zoll oder weniger, schreibt Valerie Steele, Chefkuratorin und Direktorin des New Yorker Fashion Institute of Technology, in ihrem Buch The Corset: A Cultural History . Ärzte des 19. Jahrhunderts berichteten über Fälle von ehemals korsettierten Leichen mit verschobenen Organen und verschrumpelten Eingeweiden. Engschnürende Jugendliche wurden beschuldigt, sich den Übeln der Masturbation hingegeben zu haben.

Zur gleichen Zeit entstanden Pro-Tightlacing-Broschüren und -Bücher zusammen mit Underground-Zeitschriften, die Briefe im Forum - Stil über Engschnürung, Piercing, Unterwäsche sowie Bondage und Dominanz enthielten.

Steele schreibt, dass The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine zwischen 1867 und 1874 mehr als 150 Briefe über Miederwaren veröffentlichte. Die Briefe (von denen viele Wissenschaftler glauben, dass sie von Männern geschrieben wurden und mehr auf Fantasie als auf Realität beruhen) enthüllten eine sadomasochistische Subkultur von Menschen, die durch Korsetts sexuelle Lust erlangten. Das Magazin erhielt so viele Zuschriften über das Auspeitschen widerwilliger Korsett-Auszubildender, dass es eine spezielle Auspeitschungs-Beilage veröffentlichen musste.

Die Ärzte des 19. Jahrhunderts beschuldigten Korsetts, Gebärmuttervorfälle, entzündete Lebern, Blasenhernien, Nierenerkrankungen, Knochenverschiebungen und die alte Bereitschaft weiblicher Krankheiten, „Hysterie“, zu verursachen. Sie warnten davor, dass das Tragen der einengenden Kleidungsstücke zu hässlichen Kindern führen könnte.

Um 1880 versprachen die Hersteller von „elektrischen Korsetts“ in London und New York, dass ihre elektromagnetische Unterwäsche Nieren- und Lebererkrankungen, Rheuma und Nervenleiden abwehren und heilen könne, während sie Damen die Strapazen des Engschnürens erspart.

Diese Praxis geriet gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts aus der Mode. „Vor allem muss jede kräftige Frau aufhören zu denken, dass sie ein Korsett tragen kann, das zwei oder drei Nummern kleiner ist, als sie braucht“, behauptete ein Artikel in Women's Home Companion im Jahr 1912. „Welchen irdischen Unterschied macht es, ob es ein großes, gut gebautes ist Die Taille einer Frau misst 26 oder 30 Zoll? Es zählt, wie sie in ihrem Korsett aussieht und wie sie sich darin fühlt.“

„Wie kannst du atmen?“ manche Leute würden fragen. "Tut es weh?"

„Ich muss anders atmen“, gibt Crowder zu. „Ich kann keine tiefen Zwerchfellatmungen machen, daher ist meine Atmung viel flacher, wenn ich ein Korsett trage.“

Crowder trägt ein Korsett und ein Kleid im Haus, wenn sie arbeitet – aber keine Schuhe, um die Pedale ihrer Nähmaschine besser kontrollieren zu können. Und das Korsett lässt sie zu Hause, wenn sie ihrem ernsthaften Hobby nachgeht: Mountainbiken. „Ich bin ein Wildfang“, sagt Crowder.

Eine andere Kundin von Crowder, Debra McNeill, die in den Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts lebt, bestellte ein Korsett, nachdem sie in zwei Jahren in fünf Autounfälle verwickelt war. Ständiger Schmerz fuhr durch ihre Beine und ihr Rücken schmerzte immer. Sie kaufte eine Rückenstütze in einer Apotheke und fühlte sich etwas besser. Dann schlug ein Arzt McNeill vor, in eine Schmerzklinik zu gehen, wo sie ihr das Meditieren beibringen könnten. Stattdessen brachte sie sich selbst das Meditieren bei und bestellte ein Korsett bei Wasp Creations.

„Ich bin wahrscheinlich der geradlinigste Schnürer, den es gibt“, scherzt McNeill, eine echte weiße angelsächsische Protestantin, die ihre Abstammung auf Vorfahren zurückverfolgt hat, die die Mayflower verlassen haben.

„Ich trage jetzt rund um die Uhr ein Korsett“, sagt McNeill, die kaum das Haus saugen konnte, bevor sie zusätzliche Unterstützung suchte. Jetzt ballt sie Heu und reitet auf ihrer Ranch – während sie ein Korsett trägt, das besser passt als das ihrer puritanischen Vorfahren. „Das Korsett verhindert, dass meine Wirbelsäule tagsüber zusammengedrückt wird, und das stoppt die Schmerzen in den Beinen. Ich ziehe [das Korsett] einmal pro Woche für volle 24 Stunden aus, nur um sicherzustellen, dass sich alles so bewegt, wie es sein soll.“

Sie muss kleinere Mahlzeiten zu sich nehmen, gibt McNeill zu, deren 33-Zoll-Taille auf 27 Zoll geschrumpft ist. Die kleinere Taille ist nur ein unerwarteter Vorteil, sagt sie.

„Ist das nicht ein Fetisch-Ding?“ Leute fragen McNeill, wenn sie ihnen sagt, dass sie ein Korsett trägt. „Viele Menschen können die Vorstellung nicht akzeptieren, dass eine normale Person ein Korsett trägt.“

Cathie sagt, sie wollte keine Rekorde brechen. Sie und Bob sagen, dass sie weder Fetischisten noch in der Bondage-Szene sind. Sie sind viktorianische Modebegeisterte, die an jährlichen Kostümbällen in Europa teilnehmen, die von Les Gracieuses Modernes, einer Organisation in Hamburg, Deutschland, veranstaltet werden, für „Personen, die die elegante und weibliche Figur der Damen mögen“. Ballbesucher in viktorianischen Kleidern und Unterwäsche zahlen 150 US-Dollar pro Stück, um zu speisen und zu tanzen, und bei den Galas können korsettierte Frauen ihre Sanduhrformen zeigen. Cathie bereitete ihre Taille für den alljährlichen Ball vor, indem sie die meiste Zeit ein Korsett trug. Schon bald trug sie sieben Tage die Woche rund um die Uhr ein Korsett, um ihre Figur zu erhalten.

„Bob wurde bei vielen Gelegenheiten beschuldigt, meine Rippen herausgerissen zu haben“, sagt Cathie. Als das Paar vor fünf Jahren in einer japanischen Nachrichtensendung in Tokio auftrat, röntgten die Produzenten Cathie, um sicherzustellen, dass sie noch alle Rippen hatte. Sie besteht darauf, dass die permanente Einwärtskrümmung ihrer unteren, schwebenden Rippen kein Problem darstellt.

Part 4- How did I get my own corsets?

I first tried to buy corsets on the internet around the year 2000 and like any "beginner" I made the typical mistakes...

...among other things, I didn't notice that my own body didn't correspond to the usual clothing dimensions

In fact, even with trousers or shirts/blouses, only about 50% of those concerned fit the items made according to the ready-made specifications -

How can it work with a corset? Answer -> not at all!

So the bad buys increased - the corsets didn't fit - which was noticeable when wearing them, among other things, through pain

Buying a corset off the rack from one company was NOT a bad buy

https://www.vollers-corsets.com/

Yes - they have been making corsets for almost 130 years and yes, they are actually suitable for lacing

the model I bought is suitable for my long torso

(you will see it again later in another place...)

So for me as a "seat giant" (very long upper body and short legs) that ultimately meant only one thing -> a corset made to my individual measurements - called a "made-to-measure corset"

Around the year 2002 I found what I was looking for - in the USA and not in Europe! -> "waspcreation" - the owner -> "Amy Crowder"

Through her I got my first really fitting corset

and I experienced what other people describe wearing a really fitted corset -> it's great - it's addictive

Amy was so ingenious with her "invention" of her own measurement system (i.e. what measurements do I have to take from the customer so that my corset cut actually

fits right away without major changes) - that I did NOT have to travel to the USA and only needed a few test corsets (common for custom-made products!).

Amy's designs were developed for everyday wearing of corsets - it wasn't about super design but about practicality - e.g. that you could lace yourself up without help

yes - the scene from "Gone with the Wind" - where the nanny of the protagonist ("Scarlet") knees in the small of the back...

..manno - this is Hollywood bullshit at its finest!

but 99% of all women and men still believe that it takes immense strength to shoot a corset.

If there weren't lacing going through eyelets they would be right - but I always wonder why schools around the world teach anything more than simple "reading, writing and arithmetic" - if you're not even in a position to recognize it you have a PULLEY system in front of you when lacing the corset...

..and "force" is converted into "distance".

Amy perfected the "pulley" of the corset - by addressing a main problem that practical pulleys also have -> the friction at the deflection points.

In a "real" pulley system, the rope runs over MIT-rotating pulleys and the friction in the pulley bearings is relevant.

With a corset, the corset cord slides over FIXED eyelets and the friction between the cord and the edge of the eyelet (shape and surface) becomes a decisive factor.

That's why her eyelets are larger than those of all other corset manufacturers - but that's also why you can tighten the corset from the middle (the waist) without the cord "stopping".

(see the video - this is only possible with her and in the end I have corsets from 7 different manufacturers)

So there's no "blindly groping your arms behind your back" to grab the line like all other manufacturers do.

And with her, the distance between the eyelets in the middle of the waist is smaller than in the area outside - because the narrower the eyelets are, the higher the "pulley block" factor...

..so the less force is needed to pull the cord.

Since the reduction in the waist area is greatest and thus also the required force - the higher "factor" means that the force to be applied by the lacing end is smaller.

The side effect: Due to the increased friction between the eyelets and the corset cord, the fact occurs that the corset no longer pulls itself open at the waist when the bow is tied...

...which enables the wearer not only to pull the cords tighter without outside help, but also to finally "fix" the cord with a knot and loop

Other corset manufacturers have adopted this over time - some openly say today that they "copied", um "learned" from Amy - others still act as if they had come up with it on their own. It doesn't matter - the main thing is that the corset manufacturer does it that way.

Even this "monster corset" made by me - a tailor-made product by a Berlin corset manufacturer (TomTo) - I can lace myself without much effort - I can put it on and lace it myself without help - I just have to use "infinite" corset cords drag

and if you look at the waist area ... the eyelets are tighter - yes, they had my suggestion (she repaired one on my "waspcreation" corset Little thing and initially wondered about the arrangement of the eyelets - when I explained it "clicked") not only for my corsets.

The idea for this corset comes from a fetish story from the 1970s - but it was intended for a submissive wearer

Ms. Merz looked at the picture - listened to what I wanted and said:

"Miauzi - I understand what you want - I'll make you my own suggestion"

Back to Mrs. Amy Crowder

(I link this 20 year old article because it still contains a lot of things that are still valid today - that's why I use this text for various quotes)

https://www.thepitchkc.com/adventures-in-tight-lacing/

The picture in the article shows her being laced into a "discipline" corset (described above) by her husband without "straightening the knee."

Quote: "Crowder works on the second floor of a two-story artisan-style bungalow she and Cady share in Harrison, off 55th Street, creating specially designed corsets for clients around the world. For those who push their curves to the extreme want, the popular Hourglass corset is an "excellent choice for the casual tightlacer". There's the Numan corset, designed for "larger men". And for humid summer months, ventilated polyester and cotton twill corsets expel body heat. There's however, no release from the discipline corset - which stretches from the chest to mid-thigh and sometimes contains up to 50 feet of laces - until a merciful dominatrix decides to free the submissive corset.The truly penitent can ordain the sarcophagus, a disciplining corset that from chest to ankle."

It says something about "summer corsets" - what is that?

Well - since a corset leader was worn all day and in Europe and North America it is significantly warmer in summer than in winter - the "summer corset" was developed in the 19th century - which used different materials than the "normal" corsets .

Today's problem for all corset tailors -> you can't get these fabrics anymore - because they are simply NOT MANUFACTURED anymore.

The whole thing was high-strength silk fabrics - which made it possible to produce the summer corset from a single layer of fabric and still cause body compression

An underbust corset for summer weighs no more than 500 grams.

(Today's corset collectors still have some specimens - my Berlin seamstress got one of these from a collector to look at - it was also weighed there)

The "normal" corsets were two-layered and even with bones etc. such a corset at that time hardly weighed more than 1 kg.

Today there are neither the materials for "summer" nor for "normal" corsets - the tailors for today's lace-up corsets have to switch to fabric from the furniture industry - this often results in a three-layer structure - which also has an impact on the weight put it - for an underbust corset 1.5 to 2 kg.

The selection of the upper material also plays a role here - many decorative materials that are used for an open corset are not stable enough against the deformation forces - just like leather.

Amy was one of the first to try to counteract this and created her own summer model

I'm very proud to have bought one of the first models back then - it was a "ready-to-wear" corset, but the necessary changes for my body were so minor with the cut that they could be added to the cut and sew without any additional work

(which is a characteristic of this corset manufacture)

And, like everyone else who is seriously concerned with the subject, encountered various "urban legends" about the corset

Quote: Crowder flipped through musty books about the garment, which is often described as distressing. She read chilling stories of broken ribs and livers cut in half. She leafed through faded pictures of sadistic governesses who took the breath away of young protégés.

Die-hard tightlacers squeezed their waists down to 16 inches or less, writes Valerie Steele, chief curator and director of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, in her book The Corset: A Cultural History. Nineteenth-century physicians reported cases of formerly corseted corpses with dislocated organs and shriveled intestines. Tight-lacing youths have been accused of indulging in the evils of masturbation.

At the same time, pro-tightlacing pamphlets and books sprang up along with underground magazines that contained Forum-style letters about tight lacing, piercing, lingerie, and bondage and dominance.

Steele writes that between 1867 and 1874 The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine published more than 150 letters on corsetry. The letters (which many scholars believe were written by men and are based more on fantasy than reality) revealed a sadomasochistic subculture of people who gained sexual pleasure from corsets. The magazine received so many letters about the flogging of unwilling corset trainees that it had to publish a special flogging supplement.

Nineteenth-century physicians blamed corsets for causing uterine prolapse, inflamed livers, bladder hernias, kidney disease, bone dislocations, and the ancient propensity for female disease, "hysteria." They warned that wearing the constricting garments could lead to ugly children.

By the 1880s, the makers of "electric corsets" in London and New York were promising that their electromagnetic underwear could ward off and heal kidney and liver diseases, rheumatism and nervous disorders while sparing women the rigors of tight lacing.

This practice fell out of fashion towards the end of the 19th century. “Above all, every stout woman must stop thinking that she can wear a corset two or three sizes smaller than she needs,” asserted an article in Women's Home Companion in 1912. “What an earthly difference it makes whether it's a tall, well-built woman's waist is 26 or 30 inches? What matters is how she looks in her corset and how she feels in it.”

A lot of what is now considered to be exact historical reports about constriction or waist size or the hardships of the day or damage to health -> is BULLSHIT

and has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the time.

Topic: How tight did women really lace themselves back then?

A few years ago, an orthopedic specialist in the USA asked herself this question.

Their (so-called) specialist literature reported incredibly tight waists and almost all women of the time had such super-small "wasp" waists.

If you look at fashion magazines from that time - yes, the figurines all look ultra laced.

But was that also the case in real life?

Photography already existed during the Civil War of 1861-65 - so from that time it was the new medium for portraits of people.

And many pictures from this period have been preserved - illustrated books of them are still published today.

What is striking? - Women look almost the same around the waist as today's women?

What please?

In order to clarify this discrepancy from medical literature, fashion journals and real photos, the doctor looked for order books from corset tailors that have survived from this period (2nd half of the 19th century).

Well - and what did she think -> the average waist reduction was 5-10 cm - NOT more

transferred to today's standard measurement of 90-60-90, the waist was reduced from 60 cm to 50-55 cm by wearing the corset!

(and not reduced by 15-20 cm like all this nonsense - to which medicine still refers today - claims)

Let's take the topic "organ relocation"

Yes - by "constantly wearing" a waist-reducing corset, the position of some internal organs shifts.

Does it die?

Of course not - because otherwise EVERY pregnancy means the death sentence for a woman!

Because even during pregnancy, internal organs are relocated massively - if the body's structure weren't prepared for it...

..but other activities also cause organ relocation -> for example diving

I've done scuba diving for years, both with and without scuba.

Especially when free diving you can feel with every additional meter of depth how the pressure on the abdominal cavity increases and the water pressure pushes the organs upwards - because the lungs shrink.

So if wearing a corset would lead to health problems due to organ relocation...

..why doesn't it do that when diving?

This is exactly the question I asked my longstanding specialist in orthopedics when I was sitting in front of her in the corset, and it left her speechless at first.

She began to question the technical relevance of her lectures in medical school.

To make it short - the knowledge about corsets and their consequences for the human body that is still taught today at medical universities dates back to the 1930s or even earlier - from a time when the corset was out of fashion - so it is neither manufacturer there were women who could be questioned and women who could be examined.

Since a piece of clothing from the underwear sector was treated a little more discreetly in a public discussion in the 19th century than it is today - there were hardly any reports from real women who reported wearing a corset.

What there was -> Fetish stories that were later thought to be real experience reports!

And what else there was -> anti-corset propaganda

The corset was chosen by the beginning of the women's emancipation movement (also known as the "reform movement") as a symbol for the oppression of the same and fought with a huge amount of half-truths and untruths. This also includes the fairy tale stories of broken ribs caused by lacing too tight.

Really now? - Ribs break due to constriction? - How does that work?

The lower ribs are pliable - they yield inward (albeit reluctantly).

Before you can compress your body to the point where you are on the verge of serious damage - the lacing eyelets tear out of the fabric of the corset!

(cheap corsets often tear out much faster)

Yes - there were also broken ribs in corset wearers - but not because of the corset, but in spite of it.

A corset is sometimes referred to as "armor" and it also protects the wearer like an "armor" - also from external mechanical influences.

If a wearer suffers a broken rib (e.g. due to a fall coupled with a collision on the edge of a table) despite wearing a corset - then this would definitely have happened without it.

By the way - what does the doctor do with the patient if he breaks a rib?

It used to put on a fixing tape or roof tile bandage - which is now avoided (because of the restricted breathing)

One still remembers the Empress "Sissi" - one of the fashion and corset icons of the 19th century.

how did she die By a knife attack!

Only the assassin had to do it MULTIPLE times - because the first time he hit the steel corset rods and his stiletto didn't penetrate!

Quote: "How can you breathe?" some people would ask. "Does it hurt?"

"I have to breathe differently," Crowder admits. "I can't do deep diaphragmatic breathing, so my breathing is much shallower when I'm wearing a corset."

Crowder wears a corset and dress around the house when she works - but no shoes to better control the pedals on her sewing machine. And she leaves the corset at home when she pursues her serious hobby: mountain biking. "I'm a tomboy," says Crowder.

Yes - wearing the corset all the time changes a few things

1) The breathing

as described, deep "diaphragmatic breathing" is no longer possible.

Is that bad in everyday life?

20 years ago, when the orthopedist at the time reproached me - I asked:

"And please tell me now when and how often you use this breathing yourself"

Then it "CLICK" for her - because almost all people breathe almost the entire day -> FLAT

Deep breathing is only used consciously for things such as heavy physical work or endurance sports (such as running or cycling).

or if you try to run after a tram that is moving away...

...in a corset you do this exactly once - after that you have understood that there is a limitation

2) Bending the upper body...

...is no longer possible and the eventual herniated disc is 100% excluded

Note: with a corset placed around the body you will not get a prolapse of the intervertebral disc in the area where the corset is - so the longer the corset in the back...

Then how do you bend down in the corset?

As the orthopaedist recommends anyway -> you bend your knees like a lady

3) wasting muscles

Yes - this is an existing problem for long-term wearers - but 90% of the population has a "weak" back anyway and would have to do special back exercises every day for 20-30 minutes to strengthen the muscles, even without wearing a corset.

do you do that? Think hard about it!

4) Strain on the skin

Something that even long-term wearers underestimate - the corset exerts its pressure/force over the skin to shape the body as desired

We know from nursing and intensive care that prolonged pressure can damage the skin.

So special attention must be paid to the care of the skin!

In general -> a corset is NOT worn on the bare skin - NEVER!

For 500 years, women have worn at least one shirt under their "lace-up breasts" or their corset - that was not without reason

If you put the corset on - then it is wide open at the lacing between 10 and 20 cm. By pulling the cord, it closes slowly

a) with the inner wall of the corset slides over the surface of the skin - ATTENTION FRICTION - with bare skin it is very large and the gliding effect is not even - the skin forms real "lacing bulges" - these can be removed with an "undergarment" - a tube ("corsett-liner") made of elastic fabric that is worn between the skin and the corset

b) the line itself slides not only over the eyelet surface but also over the bare skin -> burns are more common than you think

Either the "corsett-liner" and/or the additional "lace-protector" can help.

(see the pictures in the next chapter where I tie my darling into the S-Line corset)

5) The spine is fixed

Yes - that is even desired - see orthopedic corsets (yes, they actually exist)

Man masters the upright walk - in which the entire body is involved in the form of compensatory movements.

The corset limits this - but does not completely prevent this movement.

But what is important - by fixing the position of the individual vertebrae in the area of the worn corset, the posture in this section is also "frozen".

So if you want to wear high heels with your corset...

.. first put on the heels and only then the corset.

The position of the pelvis alone is completely different than without high heels

Most of the problems with "occasional wearers" comes precisely from (ignorant) disregard for this context

Quote: Another Crowder customer, Debra McNeill, who lives in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, ordered a corset after being involved in five car accidents in two years. Constant pain ran through her legs and her back was always sore. She bought a back brace from a pharmacy and felt a little better. Then a doctor suggested McNeill go to a pain clinic where they could teach her to meditate. Instead, she taught herself to meditate and ordered a corset from Wasp Creations.

"I'm probably the straightest lacer there is," jokes McNeill, a true white Anglo-Saxon Protestant who traced her ancestry to ancestors who left the Mayflower.

"I wear a corset 24/7 now," says McNeill, who could barely vacuum the house before seeking extra support. Now she bales hay and rides horses around her ranch—while wearing a corset that fits better than those of her Puritan ancestors. “The corset keeps my spine from compressing during the day and that stops the pain in my legs. I take [the corset] off once a week for a full 24 hours just to make sure everything is moving the way it's supposed to.”

She has to eat smaller meals, admits McNeill, whose 33-inch waist has shrunk to 27 inches. The smaller waist is just an unexpected benefit, she says.

"Isn't that a fetish thing?" People ask McNeill when she tells them she wears a corset. "A lot of people can't accept the idea that a normal person wears a corset."

Two important things that are generally not known

a) You are taller in the morning than in the evening - with a body height of approx. 170 cm, this makes up 2-3 cm

b) the intervertebral discs absorb water at night and "swell" in this way - they release it again during the course of the day

So if you tie yourself up in the morning - the intervertebral discs are "spared" by the pressure from body weight and the tensile effect of the ligaments - they retain their water.

This was my second reason for wanting to wear a corset - I didn't have a car accident like the lady in the article did - but I did suffer from it

Back pain that I suspected was caused by the intervertebral discs shrinking together.

And the corset actually put an end to that pain!

Do you lose weight if you wear a corset "permanently"?

Yes and no.

Yes - the corset reduces the air-filled cavities inside the body - the most important is the stomach.

As a result, the "Fölle" feeling sets in faster - if you adjust your eating habits accordingly - the amount of food consumed daily actually decreases.

For me, the first 2 years of "continuous wear" (i.e. 12-16 hours a day) resulted in a weight loss of 10-12 kg.

This has nothing to do with starving the pounds away - just using a "help".

No - the corset does not eliminate any "morbid gluttony addiction" - so if something in the brain is already on "addiction" it can't help here.

Quote: Cathie says she didn't want to break records. She and Bob say they are neither fetishists nor in the bondage scene. They are Victorian fashion enthusiasts who attend annual costume balls in Europe hosted by Les Gracieuses Modernes, an organization in Hamburg, Germany, for "persons who like the elegant and feminine figure of ladies". Ball-goers in Victorian dresses and lingerie pay $150 each to dine and dance, and the galas allow corseted women to show off their hourglass shapes. Cathie prepped her waist for the annual ball by wearing a corset most of the time. Before long, she was wearing a corset 24 hours a day, seven days a week to maintain her figure.

In 2008 she got to know the two people who organized this ball in Hamburg for many years - we (my wife and I) were invited to a photo shoot lasting several days.

When we weren't standing in front of the camera in "costumes" and corsets, we "chatted" a lot and that's how I learned a lot about Cathie Jung that isn't on websites or magazine articles - but not just about her, but also about other women and men with "extreme" waists.

Our hostess ("Britta") was Germany's smallest waist herself for many years - so the amateur lacemaker came to the queen to learn from her and there was quite a lot to learn!

(my darling - on the right - wears my S-Line corset - because of the optics and other things there will be a few more pictures of it later)

Quote: "Bob has been accused of ripping out my ribs on many occasions," says Cathie. When the couple appeared on a Japanese news show in Tokyo five years ago, producers X-rayed Cathie to make sure she still had all her ribs. She insists that the permanent incurvature of her lower, floating ribs isn't a problem.

The quote is about Cathie Jung's partner - who officially had the smallest waist in the world...

..bla bla bla - she didn't - but it doesn't matter that there were women with a smaller waist - she was the one who was known to the press and the media.

And of course the most absurd "urban legend" that exists on the subject of corsets was also dished up here -> the removal of the lower ribs in order to be able to lace tighter.

In a nutshell -> total bullshit

a stab with a stiletto in the chest of the lungs or a small bullet hole at the end of the 19th century meant death...

..because an operation in the upper chest area was not possible at that time.

It was only when SAUERBRUCH built and used a special vacuum chamber at the beginning of the 20th century that the conditions were met.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ein-centurychirurg-100.html

In addition - have you ever heard of sepsis and surgical shock, dear journalists - even today, such an operation to remove the lower costal arches would not be a walk in the park like an appendix operation!!

R.I.P. Amy Crowder - unfortunately you died far too young in 2010 at the age of 39

Leather corsets without support are NOT suitable for waist reduction - they are pure "decorative corsets".

(oki - there is one exception - a special tanning technique makes leather resistant to warping - only then it is so stiff - then you can no longer process it with normal sewing machines (even those for leather are not sufficient))

The exception is Albert's

https://www.staylace.com/albertcst/index1.html

he has found a special processing technique that enables him to process extremely stiff leather in such a way that the cut makes it extremely supple around the wearer's body - even in the very critical narrow waist area

That's why it's the exception to the rule that there can't be a leather corset without a layer of fabric that absorbs tensile forces

Why corsets from TomTo from Berlin?

Quite simply - because I live in Berlin and I met Mrs. Merz (the owner) at a fetish fair in Berlin

and I wanted another slightly different corset.

That's how I got into the local world of corset making and corset wearers...

..she organized a regular meeting (she didn't want to mention the regulars' table) and I got to know other people with the same fable for corsets.

https://www.tomto.de/about/

Why am I linking to the following page?

The corsets shown there should serve as an inspiration for the mod project mentioned above - nothing more

https://www.tomto.de/inspiration/

aus der gezeigten Liste ist dieses Korsett wegen seiner geschwungenem oberen wie unteren Rand mein persönlicher Favorit

Part 5 - own suggestions

Do I have my own suggestion of how the possible corset for the catsuit could look like?

Definitely an underbust corset - but how far it goes up or down - there are quite a few options.

Yes - I own an S-Line corset myself - the special cut enables a very interesting look simply by using a material in two contrasting colors

You can see how far the corset is open - but the corset cord does not touch the skin or the worn latex -> lace protector

The lace guard is one of the features that makes the difference between a good corset (it has one) and a cheap corset (it doesn't have one)!

It also makes lacing much easier - because when you close (tighten the corset), the protector pushes it under the edges of the corset.

Um and the crossed knee is the fake reference to the movie "Gone with the Wind"

How versatile can you design an underbust corset - there are only a few of fantasmillions of variants

Part 7 - Conclusion

I didn't think I would be sitting on this blog entry for 3 long days...

...among other things, it was also a journey for me into my own personal past - some beautiful as well as sad memories came up again

The whole thing started with the idea of making a decision about how to possibly design the missing corset for the latex outfit set

Is this the end of the matter?

No - if there are any questions or comments - I would be happy to answer them.

And that's just the corset for the "harmless" variant - I already have an idea for the "bad" variant