Corset

A corset, from the old French "cors", itself derived of the Latin corpus (body), is a feminine underwear worn in the XVIth century. At the beginning of the XXth century containing boning (also know as ribs or stays) and intended to model the bust following variable esthetic criteria in the course of times. It is a stiff garment (without flexibility nor elasticity) that has essentially two effects: on one hand refine the size, on the other hand maintain the breast. We call corset-maker a manufacturer of corsets.

From its debuts in the Renaissance until its quasi-disappearance in the first decades of the XXth century, the high structure (body with ribs, pricked body or corset) was essentially a ladies' wear, although occasionally men (dandies, servicemen) and children were able to wear corset.

At the Renaissance, the corset with stays, of conical shape, tried especially to flatten the breast and to decrease the morphological differences man and woman. It is only much later, in the XIXth century, that it profoundly stressed the feminine morphological characteristics (silhouette in hourglass), although its erotic connotation did not escape at the XVIIIth century.