Straight Laced

The corset, both a torture device and work of art, has held different meanings in different eras. Its original purpose...to give the wearer the perfect silhouette, that ideal hourglass shape that signaled ultimate femininity. Initially, only the upper classes of Western Society could afford the complicated undergarment. Corsets were/are expensive, the best ones must be fitted to the individual. Royalty, blue bloods, and the later the American nouveau riche needed others' help to even put the thing on, handmaidens in Europe, probably slaves in the New World. It marked class significance, and help define the gold standard of feminine appeal...small waist, augmented breasts and/or hips and buttocks, the tight laced result, a pale, petite, and fragile pet. The wearer became a woman incapable of dressing herself, also hampered by heavy outerwear, made vulnerable by a fashionable prison. Over time, corsets, and women, evolved. Societal mores loosened up along with underwear. Stays gave way to metal, finally elastic. Stifling restriction eventually became bra burning. Women's bodies were not longer forcibly and painfully reshaped for the male gaze. Now, the corset itself has become a plaything, a fetish object and ironic symbol of female power and domination. The privilege of owning one still costs a pretty penny, but its a lot cheaper than its clearest descendant, plastic surgery.