Object: Corset
Date: 1880
Medium: Black cotton sateen, pink lace, and metal
Country: France
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Object number: 98.29.4
DescriptionFully boned corset in black cotton sateen with contrast pink lace trim, ribbon ornament and back lacings; bust shaped with fine parallel trapunto; two sections with CF metal bar and loops, CB lacing
Label Text:There is a common misconception that all 19th-century women had 18-inch waists. This stereotype has been perpetuated in literature and film, most notably in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett O’Hara laments that she can no longer fit into her 18.5-inch corset. Yet advertisements of the time promoted corsets from 18 to 30 inches, and ready-made corsets were available in further sizes. Women could also adjust the way their laces were tied and how tightly they closed their corsets, in some cases leaving an inch or more open at the back.
In Collection(s)
Exhibitions:
- Femme Fatale: Fashion and Visual Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Paris
- Untying the Bow
- The Corset: Fashioning the Body
- The Body: Fashion and Physique