How To...

The dress was worn in two pieces and connected with hooks and ties. The style of sleeves changed many times throughout the Victorian Era. The neckline was worn in a high V-neck. Either one or two skirts were worn; with two skirts the underskirt was longer, forming a short train with the top skirt forming an apron. The underskirt flared from the knees down to create fullness. Around 1880, the skirt was cut narrow all around the body, forming a slim outline. The dress was made in different colors, from pastels to darker colors. Different shades of green were very popular.

The Issues...

·Cons:

-Asphyxia: they could not breathe very well with them.

-Sunstroke: women usually get sunstroke because of all the clothes they had to wear.

-Infertility: the corsets they had to wear were so tight that women had continually miscarriages, many of them remained sterile for life. Wearing corset was not easy for a pregnant women, they could lose their baby. In the "best" cases babies came out deformed or with cardiorespiratory problems.

-Faints: many times faints were caused by getting a sunstroke, but in many others, faints were caused by the difficult task of breathing well.

·Pros:

Corsets were used to enhance women's figure and to enhance the bust as well.

Unlike the Ordinary...

So ordinary corsets were not so tight after all, and contrary to common belief, the construction of the corset with the metal busk for front closure and the lacing in the back, enabled the bearer to lace herself in. She did not need a maid or husband to help her.

Severe tight-lacing was practiced, and some corsetieres specialized in cultivating very small waists. Some men developed a fetish for small waists, a fetish which was regarded as quite acceptable. Small waists and the corset probably played about the same role as the wonder bra plays today.

 

 

Talking that Talk...

Wpmen most often for compressing the waist, but sometimes for raising the bust. hen talking corsetry, the most interesting period of fashion is the period from 1820 to about 1910. But the corset is much older than that. In Europe, it has been in general use as an undergarment since the middle ages, but it probably dates several thousands of years back. The corset has at all times been used for shaping the body.

A compelling question is of course, how tightly were the corsets laced? There are many reports of waists between 18 and 14 inches - even 12 inch waists are mentioned. However, it is believed that most accounts of these very small waists represent fantasies. Measurements of corsets in museum collections indicate that most corsets of the period 1860 to 1910 measured from 20 to 22 inches. Furthermore, those sizes do not indicate how tightly the corsets were laced. They could easily have been laced out by several inches, and probably were, because it was prestigious to buy small corsets.

 

 

A New Class System...

 Working-class women (except when dressed for special occasions) did not go through the discomfort of wearing tightly laced corsets. They wore looser corsets and simpler clothes, with less weight. The higher up in class a lady was, the more confining her clothes were. This was because they did not need the freedom to do household chores. Paid servants took care of such cumbersome matters.

Women were thought of as the weaker sex, therefore their minds and bodies were weak. So the corset was deemed morally and medically necessary. Tight lacing was considered virtuous - a loose corset was probably a sign of a loose woman. To keep her innocence and virtuosity, a lady had to be chaperoned everywhere she went. She could not read or see any plays lest it excite her imagination. Even Shakespeare was thought unsuitable for ladies. A woman needed to protect herself from lustful men (and her own morality) by wearing heavily reinforced layers of clothing and tight corsets that made getting undressed a long and difficult task.

The Beginning of a Secret...

 In the 1830's, the corset was thought of as a medical necessity. It was believed that a woman was very fragile, and needed assistance from some form of stay to hold her up. Even girls as young as three or four, and probably directed by the best motives, were laced up into bodices.

Gradually these garments were lengthened and tightened. By the time they were teenagers, the girls were unable to sit or stand for any length of time without the aid of a heavy canvas corset reinforced with whale bone or steel. The corset deformed the internal organs making it impossible to draw deep breath, in or out of a corset. Because of this, Victorian women were always fainting and getting the vapors.

A Bright Idea...

I want to create undergarments for the upper class women of England. I know it will help with the
'perfect body structure' of the Victorian women. Even though this is inhumane for all women to wer one size and look one way but hey that's how it is. I think all women have thir own personality and style but we have to dress as our husbands and fathers ask us to dress which I find to be the most incredulous thing on the planet.

I was walking on the dock the pther day when I seen a man picking up the designs of his wife's undergarments and I begin to wonder, what is the purpose of these undergarments so I went to ask the man. The man was startled and appalled when I asked him this question and quickly turned away from me yelling at me to mind my business and that it was a secret. So that is where I came up with the name, Victorian's Secret.

About Me...

A Seamstress' Story

Once upon a time...there was a needle and a thread.
Then there was cloth that neede to be trnsformed.

I first knew that I would become a seamstress whenmy mother assigned me the job of makiing the family's clothes. I absolutely hated that chore, it was so tedious. Why did the holes on our skirts matter or the rips in our stockings matter? They were going tobe back soon enough anyway so I didn't understand the method of my mother's madness, but I did as I was told. I made clothes for 3 brothers and five sisters, now imagine how many times I poked myself with the needle. The Dickerson family is known to be large and annoying so when I go out,I only say my first and second name not my last. So if you see me in the streets or the courtyard please address me as Stella Juliet.