Product Description

The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the history of fashion. Although regarded as an essential element of fashionable dress from the Renaissance into the twentieth century, the corset was also frequently condemned as an instrument of torture and the cause of ill health. Whey did women continue to don steel and whalebone corsets for four hundred years? And why did they stop? This lavishly illustrated book offers fascinating and often surprising answers to these questions. Valeric Steele, one of the world's most respected fashion historians, explores the cultural history of the corset, demolishing myths about this notorious garment and revealing new information and perspectives on its changing significance over the centuries. Whereas most historians have framed the history of the corset in terms of oppression vs. liberation and fashion vs. health and comfort, Steele contends that women's experiences of corsetry varied considerably and cannot be fully understood within these narrow frames. Drawing on extensive research in textual, visual, and material sources, the author disproves the beliefs that the corset was dangerously unhealthy and was designed primarily for the oppression of women. Women persisted in wearing corsets - despite powerful male authorities trying to dissuade them - because corsetry had positive connotations of social status, self-discipline, youth, and beauty. In the twentieth century the garment itself fell out of fashion but, Steele points out, it has become internalised as women replace the boned corset with diet, exercise, and plastic surgery. The book concludes with insightful analyses of such recent developments as the reconception of the corset as a symbol of rebellion and female sexual empowerment, the revival of the corset in contemporary high fashion, and its transformation from an item of underwear to outerwear.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #709484 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Rachel Cooke, New Statesman, 22 October 2001
'It is a long time since I have so enjoyed looking at a book.'

Lisa Allardice, Daily Telegraph, 20 October 2001
'an uplifting defence of fashion'

Kathryn Hughes, The Literary Review, November 2001
'This is cultural scholarship and social history at its absolute best.'

Customer Reviews

The Corset
This book is fantastic, it helps portray the history of the corset from the beginning when both men and women were subjected to wearing it and through to fetishism and modern day use. The pictures are brilliant and the diagrams show how the corset affected women's bodies and organs. It definitely helped me out with a number of essays on art and fashion. I absolutely recommend this book even just to read, it's very interesting and gives a thorough anthology of it's history.

Want to know the history of corsets to the present day- read this!
An excellent well written book on the history of corsets up to the present day for both men and women, with illustrations and diagrams. This has proved to be a most useful book for my dissertation on the effects of the corset on the body and in society. The content has been well researched and put together in different sections that are easy to follow and digest. I think this is a great book for anyone interested in corsets whether it be for work / education or just as a hobby. I have many corset books and as far as the history of corsets this has to be one of the best.

A wealth of information.
This book is great for anyone interested in the history of, or modern corsetry. Some great images that i haven't seen elsewhere, but if your looking for any technical information, this book is slightly lacking. A good initial insight into corsetry.