Tight Lacing

 

Tight Lacing

What is it about the term ‘tight corsets’? In Herman Wouk’s book ‘Marjorie Morningstar’, the heroine is cautioned about “those divorcees in their tight corsets”. In another book, the main character falls into a loveless marriage “..mistaking her tight corsets for voluptuous promise”. My aunt was fond of saying “you need tight corsets to catch your man, and tight corsets to hold onto your figure”! In contrast, my Mother, in an uncharacteristically catty moment, referred to an acquaintance, who I thought was rather glamorous, as “Hah! But she wears tight corsets,” as though it were some underhand deception. She regaled me with warnings that tight corsets would give the wearer varicose veins and liver disease. I suspected that the latter was not a direct consequence of the corset, but rather of the social habits that such a wearer would adopt!

Tight Lacing is a subject that was prevalent in Victorian through to Edwardian times to an extent that became extinct after the World War I. Vestiges of tight lacing continued on stage, in some elderly women and in the darker areas of corsetry, however, never again would it be a mainstream fashion. The remarkable 14 inch waists of late 20th Century Ethel Grainger, and early 21st Century Cathie Jung, are expressions of personal taste and form, rather than any trend in fashion.

What we are referring to in this page is the use of the girdle and corset to shape a torso, ever so slightly beyond the comfort zone for those quintessentially feminine traits of allure and vanity. Cautionary Tales of Vanity and Tight-lacing are covered in the Corsetiere's pages, and some beautiful examples from Gilo49, Trishypoo and Cherry-Tomatoe are shown in these pictures.

The corsets shown here form a very distinct set. Consider Spirella's efforts to support and control, we are looking at a different device here. Control is most certainly afforded by these garments, however, their primary function is to nip in the waist, and lead the eye downwards to a perfectly molded derriere. They all have the hallmark of the very high, shaped back, and the full length skirt that would allow for immaculate draping of a pencil skirt or close-fitting gown.

Of course, tight girdles attempt to perform the same task, however, nothing could ever be quite so successful as these corsets.

If the corset (bottom left) appears slightly odd, or askew, it is because the lacing is offset to the wearer's left. It is the only example of this that I have seen. Side-lacing, or well-offset lacing is not uncommon, particularly in Latin America and Spain, but this is something different, and I have no explanation for it.

 Spencer shows their versatility here by displaying a corset blatantly designed to minimise the waist.. Spirella, on the other hand, put the emphasis strongly on support without constriction, and 95% of their corsets echoed this philosophy. Spencer could do likewise, but also made corsets for the ultimate in tight-lacing, right through to fiendishly complex surgical devices that would force the wearer into the shape of a women, despite the afflictions of poor posture, lordosis and even pregnancy.