The 1960's and 70's was also a time of softer, natural shapes and girlish, skinny looks. Corsets continued to be made, but their mass popularity had faded. Corset manufacturers never completely went away and have always had a following within the fetish community, with the help of street fashion and contemporary designers in the 1980's, a corset resurgence started. Now you can hardly turn the page of a magazine without a corset in some form or another. What was considered old fashioned and out-moded, has been rediscovered by many women and the appeal of corset wearing has become acceptable again.

Far from feeling uncomfortable or demeaning, the corset is in fact, a delight to wear and be seen in. Not only does it improve your figure and posture but it transforms you from woman to Goddess. You become so aware of each movement of your body, it could be used as a training device to reduce your waist slowly, though it is equally satisfying to wear it just occasionally as it instantly improves even the more generous waist and it's a darn sight more fun than counting calories!!

Of course, one major difference is that most corsets are now worn over clothing rather than underneath. Whereas it was used to reduce a waist and alter body shape to enhance the outer clothing - it has now become an object of fashion in its own right.

Corsets can be obtained in traditional fabrics such as ribbon, leather, satin and lace to the more modern PVC, rubber and glitter. There are of course some hazards for the modern corset wearer such as over tight lacing which restricts your breathing. Then its very difficult to do any strenuous dancing as the pressure exerted on your rib cage means that you have much shallower breathing. This results in fainting, which can be quite useful sometimes! Make sure it's not too crowded though or you might get trampled to death!

All this 'suffering' is also part of the fun. After all, five inch stilettos aren't very practical, but in the 'dead sexy' stakes, they win hands down over a pair of trainers any day.

I'm no expert on the subject, but I do consider myself an enthusiast and collector. There certainly isn't enough space to write much about the complex mechanics of corset making, etc., so I'll just give you a few bits of information here.

From the sixteenth century, women began to wear stiffened bodices, usually made from pasted linen stitched together and shaped at the waist. To keep its shape a piece of tapering wood, whalebone or metal was inserted between the layers of the garment and laced in place.

As the century progressed, so the stays were more reinforced with the addition of more whalebone at the back and sides. Shoulder straps held the stays in place and forced the breasts upwards. The boned bodice developed further and in the eighteenth century is usually referred to as stays. The stays became longer in the body and the construction became more complicated. The foundation of the stays was still made of two layers of heavy linen or canvas stiffened with glue, usually lacing up at the back, but sometimes at the front. It was customary to put both male and female children into stays as soon as they could walk, the idea being that it improved their posture. Modern examples of eighteenth century stays can be seen in the designs by Vivienne Westwood and Gaile McConaghie of Medieval Magick.

The beginning of the nineteenth century saw the fashion for high rounded breasts and flowing muslin dresses; boned stays were not required, however the corset was never very far away and there was a revival. The original, rigid bodied stays gave way to a new version with curving lines and a small waist. The use of metal eyelets and steel in 1829 improved corsets yet further. Corsets used so much whalebone that the demand forced up prices and supply could not be met. Substitutes of steel and cane were used instead.

The corset continued to improve with new designs and better manufacturing. Some corsets such as the 'spoon busk' were heavy and more restricting, having as many as sixteen pieces of whalebone and twenty separate pieces of material sewn together. Corsets varied through the nineteenth century from short bodied versions, concentrating on small waists, to long bodied versions, such as the 'S' curve, which completely distorted the bust, hips and stomach of the wearer. Light corsets of ribbon were also worn for sport and health.

The average waist size of dresses dating from the Victorian age is twenty inches, although eighteen inches was aspired to, it was not the norm!

It is still possible for the modern corset wearer to train their waists but it is worth remembering that in the past, corsets were worn from an early age when a young girl was still growing. The continual wearing of the corset would have constricted the growth of her shoulders, so don't be disappointed if you don't achieve a twenty inch waist!

If you let me end by saying that I can think of nothing more empowering to myself as a woman, than wearing one of my corsets. Rather than spend my life trying to become a man in a 'mans' world. I have reclaimed my pride in looking like and being a woman. Corsets are a part of women's history. I think our sexuality can now be fully expressed through their wearing and in a way I feel we have reclaimed the corset, once believed to represent women's suppression. The corset looks set to take us into the next millennium - Long may it reign!

Books to read:
Corsets and Crinolines : Norah Waugh,
Routledge/Theatre Arts Books.

Dress to Undress - A History of Women's Underwear : Elizabeth Ewing, Batsford.

Where to buy 'Off the Peg' Corsets
Tight Situation,
PO Box 860, London SE12 0LL, 0181 857 7146.
(Reasonably Priced Fetish Styles, PVC, Leather, Satin)
Velda Lauder,
29 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1R 3FE, 0171 287 3830.
(Fetish and Club Designs, PVC, Glitter, Leather, Studs)
Medieval Magick,
Unit 16, Portabello Arcade, 281 Portabello Green,
London W10, 0181 960 3533.
(Celtic Embroidery, Velvet, Satin, Leather, PVC)
Vollers,
112 Kingston Road, Nothend, Portsmoth, PO2 7PB. (Traditional Corsets in Satin,
Petersham Ribbon, Brocade. Also Fetish PVC)
Axfords,
82 Centurion Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3LN. (Traditional Corsets Satin,
Leather, plus PVC, also a few corsets Designed for Men).