#tighlacer

[lemonhemlock]

tried watching the new queen charlotte series but was immediately put off by the ridiculous anti-corset propaganda, so get ready for another rant.

first of all, this is the georgian era so what she's wearing are called /stays/ - corsets are a victorian invention. why do we still not know this in 2023 when period productions have remained consistently popular throughout the years? the concept of tighlacing (the goal being a reduction of the waist) is also victorian and was not the norm at all and v much an extreme practice. this understanding of history is so superficial, it's as if an alien were to open up People magazine and conclude that all human women resort to butt injections and lip fillers to stay with the fashion of the times. also, no, you cannot tighlace in stays to obtain a waist reduction because they are shaped like a funnel (picture 1 = long stays, 2 = short regency stays, 3 = corset)

charlotte goes on to complain about how dangerous whalebone is and that it might kill her if she makes the wrong move. what the actual fuck? whalebone was actually the very best material to use for this because it was sturdy yet flexible and allowed the /stays/ to completely and comfortably mold around a woman's unique body shape. one of the reasons why today it is v difficult to replicate the same effect in corsetry is because we do not have access to whalebone (killing whales is not cool for obvious reasons) so corset-makers have to resort to other materials like plastic or metal, which CAN break. whereas whalebone doesn't really break as easily. furthermore, stays/corsets were NEVER worn on bare skin, but with a chemise/shift underneath.

why did women in the past resort to this type of undergarment, you ask? well, apart from the fact that women need bust support, the stays also serve the purpose of allowing all the many skirts and petticoats to be placed comfortably onto the waist. you try piling on that much fabric around your bare waist and see how you like it and if you can even carry it all around without it cutting into your stomach.

clothes throughout human history did cater to the popular fashions of the time, yes, but they also reflected the technological limitations and there was thus a practical aspect to it. this is a time before elastic bands, before industrialization and fast fashion, clothes are v difficult to make, everything is done by hand, so a lot of care is put into preserving them, because they are /expensive/ and labour intensive. you don't want your fancy outergarments to get ruined so you wear a lot of undergarments to absorb your bodily fluids since those are easier to make and don't have to look "pretty", can be stained and patchy etc. again, why do you need so many layers in the first place? because this is a time before comfortable heating, with poorly isolated and drafty houses, and it's bloody cold otherwise.

the third reason why that monologue was so dumb is because CHARLOTTE is the reason regency court dress was so preposterous. long story short, in a few decades, the fashionable silhouette changes wildly from the late 1700s to the 1810s.

the regency waistline was much higher and the gowns were much more flowy and unstructured than the late georgian ones (what's commonly known as the empire waistline). the long stays of the late 1700s were now replaced with short stays that really were similar to modern bras. the scene in the first season of bridgerton where they squeeze penelope's sister into what looks like a pair of long stays (?) is bonkers bc no one would wear a waist-constricting boned undergarment under a regency dress. why would they? the natural waist is not even emphasized in any way. this is just another reason to peddle the women-were-oppressed-by-their-lingerie agenda. so if charlotte really hated long stays that much, regency would really have been her time to shine, right? wrong. the woman loved the fashions of her youth so much she forced everyone who came to court to still comply to them, which is why we get the absolutely atrocious regency court dresses - essentially a combination of the georgian style with side panniers, but with an empire waistline.

yeah, this is how daphne SHOULD have looked like when she was presented at court in front of charlotte. i can understand why the showrunners decided to just leave her in a regency silhouette because this is ugly af. but, anyway, queen charlotte is the last person on earth to be complaining about how uncomfortable stays are.

creative licence aside, the reason this pisses me off is because it is SUCH lazy storytelling. the show wants us to know charlotte is a spunky pseudo-feminist character so the easiest way to do that is to have her complain about the evil 'corset' trying to kill her. it is so profoundly ahistorical and does nothing to contribute to the conversation about women's true problems and true limitations during that time. instead of genuinely exploring social history and women's actual lived experiences, we are STILL, in the year of our lord 2023, diverting the discourse towards fabricated issues that never existed in the first place.

the reasons actresses complain about boned underwear in interviews are manifold. costume designers are very overworked, they have to produce clothes for hundreds of people in a very short time, so they simply do not have the time or resources to construct corsets/stays that fit the actresses like they are supposed to. in the past, these garments were made individually for every person and completely to their own requirements. they also make these actresses wear the boning on BARE skin to look extra sexy to the audience or to emphasize their oppression - that never happened, a shift was always worn underneath (hello dakota fanning scene in the alienist??).

moreover, they lace them up until they constrict their ribcages - these women are already super thin and their bodies cannot support more reduction - instead of relying on the historical practices of padding and illusion. nowadays, body parts are what's fashionable - that's why so many resort to fat transfers or breast implants or starving themselves to achieve a flat stomach. in the past, anyone of any size could have accomplished the fashionable silhouette because they had a wide array of accouterments to plop underneath their garments - panniers, bustles, hoop skirts, padding of any sort. it didn't matter how big your waist was, you just padded other areas until you achieved the desired shape. fat women wore corsets/stays, too. working women, who did a lot of physical labour, did the same. how were they able to perform all of their tasks if they were incapable of moving or breathing? even today, people wear medical corsets all the time.

TLDR the media's obsession with portraying modern women as so liberated because they wear bras instead of "patriarchal" underwear is so tedious.

EDIT: Some very basic chronological tadpoles to make this easier to place within historical context. "Georgian" is used to denote the 18th+ century when Great Britain was ruled by several kings named George, so roughly 1714-1830. Within this interval, we refer to the Regency period as encompassing the regency of Prince George, future King George IV, when his father George III was incapacitated by mental illness. The official political regency took place during 1811-1820, but culturally speaking, this was extended to roughly the end of the 18th century up to maybe 1830 or 1837. This is the time period of Napoleonic wars and Jane Austen novels, so all her heroines should normally wear Regency styles. Think "empire waistline" as in Imperial France and Napoleon. The Victorian era (and its corsets) follows throughout the rest of the 19th century. Queen Charlotte was a contemporary of Marie Antoinette's, so they should be dressed in similar fashions (robe à la française vs robe à la anglais).

[that-witchy-pan]

Please, for the love of all things good, if you are a fanfic writer, STOP ENGAGING IN CORSET MYTHS. I cannot stress how little the common woman tighlaced, and it very much takes me out of the moment when I see 'they laced it so tight I couldn't breathe.' Yes, it was possible for exceptions, but if I see one more corset myth perpetuated, I'm going to explode.

[dobalakobakocorsets]

Meu treino de domingo ❤ #corsets #corsetraining #underbust #tighlacer #waisttraining #tightlacingcorsets #waistcincher #blkocorsets

[funghifungi]

Okay imma rant on main, this is informal so feel free to fact check me

There's this theory that early photography, since it occupied the same fuction in society as portrait paintings did, was not expected to be 'a depiction of actual reality' as it is today.

It was REALLY COMMON to just retouch pictures

Not just in the wacky 'victorians holding their own head' joke pictures they liked to do, but actual normal pictures.

There's this book titled “A Complete Treatsie on the Art of Retouching Photographic Negatives” (the title is even longer but i can't be bothered to type it all out, I am sleepy) 

Anyways, the book implies that if you did get your photo taken at a studio, as was often done, retouching was straight up standart part of the process. It was Expected.

You see all victorian’s smooth skin? Lies. Well, not lies, more like ✨ Illusion ✨

(yes this is the first man that apeared when I looked up Victorian Portrait, what of it?)

This smoothing was done by actual manipulation of lighting, exposure, but could also be done after the photograph was done with pencil, pen, or even by scraping it. Hell, even body shape could be altered, tho this was more common in the Edwardian period as oposed to the Victorian one:

So what I want to say, is that just cause it looks old it doesn’t mean it’s “more natural” or “more backwards”, however you want to look back. Textured skin has always existed, fat bodies have always existed, most women did not tighlace to hell and back. 

They rendered their pictures just as we do. That’s all.

[orchardcorset]

Looking so lovely in the #cs426longline 🖤 #Repost @velvet.noxx (@get_repost) ・・・ Waist training is going well 💚 @orchardcorset #orchardcorset #cs426longline #26inchcorset #tighlacing #waisttraining #waistcincher #tightlylaced #alternativegirl #goth #gothicgirl #wig #alternativehair #makeup #ombrewig #hourglass #hourglassfigure #gothic #altgirl #tattooedgirl #altmodel #ukmodel #britishmodel #tattooedmodel https://www.instagram.com/p/BsoMsWohl6-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2br931q7gix4

[claudiasavage]

Another view of the finished @claudiasavagefashion #corset for client @jessicaannegraham featuring artwork by @art_of_winya

[likeadevils]

lmao the hollywood corset hatred goes so deep that they are incapable of being objective about how it actually worked (ex no chemise underneath, wrong tipe of corset for clothing/period)

literally!! i can excuse the wrong type of corset but the chemise is for comfort!! of course actresses hate corsets they must be so uncomfortable!!!

[twilightsirencorsetry]

Little throwback to last year @lensmaidens meet in Nottingham. Models @oicharli @kamaramaya in the Voluspa Teal corset, Lita Sunset Orange corset and Akira harness. All pieces are available in the sample sale section! I love how rich the colours are! 💚🧡❤ #colourpop #colourinspo #silkcorset #samplesale #waspie #tighlacing #flowercrown https://www.instagram.com/p/CCrgSnVgS7y/?igshid=fw30840z0tcr

[grelleswife]

I'm seeing this tiny little thing going on where basically "imagine if the corset scene was instead this amazing thing" so if I may give a tiny addition...

imagine the scene was accurate. so like, ciel for some reason still needs to go undercover. so in order to wear the corset he is wearing a chemise so that when we see his shoulders people don't assume he is undressed, and let's just go ahead and make that corset made especially for him so that it isn't uncomfortable, and for an added bonus, let's not make it seem like it was painful like THAT because unless sebas was tighlacing him(which i doubt he would since it was looked down upon at the time but hey if he wanted to torture the child) it wouldn't hurt like that. or look like that.

but anyway yea that's just my take sorry for all the unneccisary salt😅 and sorry for the long ask!!!!

No need to apologize! So basically you’re proposing a redo of the canon corset scene where O!Ciel’s outfit is historically accurate and the poor child isn’t sexualized for laughs? That would be great, and it’s a shame that isn’t the route Yana took in the first place. Given the nature of the Watchdog’s work, I’m sure Phantomhives have had to cross dress for missions in the past, so it would make sense for O!Ciel to do likewise at some point. In this remake, though, he could have one of the awesome improved Little Robin dresses like @chibimyumi ‘s , and investigate a less creepy scenario than the one he was placed in with Druitt!

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

...

If I never see the connection between beauty patches and STD’s again it will be to soon

In 18th Century Mexico, it was not uncommon to see women wearing faux beauty marks made from tortoiseshell or fabric. These artificial patches were called chiqueadores and were placed on the temple or forehead as a fashion statement. In Mexico, women typically wore their chiqueadores on their temples, suggesting that their origin may be related to traditional headache cures, with medicinal herbs placed under the patch. 

Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Portrait of María Ana Gertrudis Cabrera y Solano (Retrato de María Ana Gertrudis Cabrera y Solano), c. 1770, Galería Coloniart, Collection of Felipe Siegel, Anna and Andrés Siegel, Mexico City, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA/Fomento Cultural Banamex, A.C., by Rafael Doniz

Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Portrait of Doña María Tomasa Durán López de Cárdenas (Retrato de doña María Tomasa Durán López de Cárdenas) (detail), c. 1762, Galería Coloniart, Collection of Felipe Siegel, Anna and Andrés Siegel, Mexico City, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA/Fomento Cultural Banamex, A.C., by Rafael Doniz

https://unframed.lacma.org/2018/02/01/beauty-eye-beholder-fashion-18th-century-mexico

The idea was so fetching that you can find it across all of Europe and the Americas.

Now ... there is the idea that the patches were first used to cover scars and small blemishes.

Who knows ... propabyl depends on where that plemish is, since ... a random big black splotch on your face doesn’t necessarely improve your look ...

Be that as it may ... that idea then was extendet to cover, depending on the “source”, scars from syphilis, plague, measles etc ...

Considering that the plague, measles and smallpox had been rampaging through europe since at least the romans  and that diverse strains of syphilis circulated in Europe before 1492 ...

It is strange to think that people would wait until the 18th century to hide their scars under patches.

Propably becasue that’s not what they where used for.

If you are lucky enough to surfive, you would most likely find yourself with a full face of scars ... so patches would not help ... they would just make it more obvious.

SO it is save to say that they where propably primaryly a fashion statement and sometimes also used to hide A SMALL BLEMISH, if that blemish happened to be in a place where a black splotch enhanced the look ...

And I can’t help but wonder if the reason the STD explanation is dragged in again and again is because beauty marks are a staple of a lot of cultures ... you know ... not white ones ...

SO ... yeah ...

Fashion historians usually specialize on one epoche ...

There is a reason for that ...

And what, you ask, does that have to do with HIV?

Missinformation is never good, even if it is about something seemingly small and meaningless, and I will always fight it!

While we are at it

NO, 18th century hair was NOT powdered with flour, NO it was not full of lice NO, not everyone wore a wig ... especially not in the 18th century ... that is more a 17th century male thing but honetsly, that is a big topic so ... yeah ...

In other news, it is impossible to tighlace with an 16th century pair of stays because the material will simply ripp.

NO stays are not the same as a corset ...

And yes, you can do all kinds of sports in a corset

Hi neil!

I got into the sandman comics about a year ago, and then subsequently the show (which is just fantabulous), and after telling my uncle about it he sent me the Death volume (she’s been his favorite character for decades). at the end of the volume there was a comic where Death teaches the reader about AIDs and safe sex.

I was wondering what it was like to originally publish that comic, when (i’m assuming, i wasn’t born yet) they were such touchy subjects?

A friend of mine, Don Melia, had just died of AIDS. Before he died we talked and he urged me to do something to help. Martha Thomases at DC Comics and Alisa Kwitney then assistant editor on Sandman put us in touch with the right people, and got what I wrote fact-checked carefully by an AIDS organisation, and found the helpline and information that we put on the back of the original 8 page supplement (to comics) and handout (sent free to comic shops). A lot of comic shops got them to libraries, high schools, or gave them out to customers. It didn't seem like governments were telling people how to keep safe. We could and we did. I'm still grateful to DC Comics for making it happen, and to all the comics retailers who gave them out or distributed them to people who needed them.

[skincaretipsforclearskin]

Milan in Paris Look: Black Tighlace Corset Top

Tell me this corset top is not to die for. This underbust corset would look great with a pair of 80 style jeans;Viola

[dobalakobakocorsets]

Sunday is also day to be tied😍 Domingo também é dia de ficar marrada😍 #corsets #corsetraining #waistcincher #waisttraining #tighlacer #tightlacingcorsets #blkocorsets #underbusts

[orchardcorset]

We love this!! 💞💞 #cs201 #meshcorset #beautifulcustomers #loveyourcurves #waistgoals #Repost @real_underground_baby with @instatoolsapp ・・・ Playing with PS. #orchardcorset #cs201 #tinywaistgang #tightsnatched #tighlacing #tightlacer #PS #photoshopcc #corsetselfie #corsets #editing #graphicarts #digitalart #makersgonnamake #creator #creativityfound #photoeditor #artofig #artistic #photoshop #Adobe #suburbanmermaid #suburbansiren #photographyofig #rochesterminnesota #photographyofminnesota #mnphotographers #mnoriginal #photography #mnlocal

[carolathhabsburg]

edna may on Flickr.

[dobalakobakocorsets]

❤ #cintura #corset #tighlacing #tightlacingcorset #blkocorset #waisttraining #underbustcorset https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgdBclFz5O/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14n2j5jx5kf6e

[dobalakobakocorsets]

Pode mais 1 #tbt que me enche de saudade? Underbust com vivo branco ❤ #blkocorsets #corsetraining #waisttraining #tighlacing #corsets #underbustcorset