The corset, from a tool of constriction to a weapon of seduction

2023 Author: Devin Ellington | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 01:33

From lingerie to an integral part of the look: the evolution of the corset

The corset continues to be successful and to fascinate with its play of seams, its tight closures, its mischievous cups, its refinement. Initially it was not considered a seductive garment, in fact it was born to discipline the woman's body, to make it more feminine, hence the nickname "Venus cage". It will disappear by the hand first of Poiret and then of Chanel, but it will know a second life thanks to some designers who will bring it back into vogue to highlight the femininity of a new woman, emancipated and aware of the charm she can exercise.

From the Renaissance bust to the catwalksThe story of female beauty passes through the history of the corset: a fetish always poised between elegance and aggression. From the Renaissance bust, armor guardian of virtue, to the raised breasts in eighteenth-century corsets, up to the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, Dolce & Gabbana, Gareth Pugh, who have reinterpreted and distorted it, making it almost unrecognizable.

The corset according to Vivienne WestwoodWestwood will propose it to be worn on sight, together with bras and lingerie to show the woman's femininity in a bold and ironic way. It will be inspired above all by the eighteenth century busts and mostly uses the corset in its original form, with an artistic and theatrical approach, in fact we see it in wedding dresses but also worn by burlesque dancers.

The corset as a perfume with Jean Paul GaultierFashion's "enfant terrible", Jean Paul Gaultier, immerses us in the grandeur of Sun King's France and then catapulted us into the cabarets of the Parisian red light districts. His most famous work is undoubtedly the pink satin corset, with cone bra, designed specifically for Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. The designer also mentions the corset in the bottle of his Classique perfume, which is shaped like a curvilinear woman's bust.

The current version of VersaceVersace also has its say in the bustier field. Deconstructed molds, revisited volumes and asymmetrical shapes, her corsets are made more current and easily wearable, without however detracting from the sensuality and eroticism that this garment must evoke.

Corset as an everyday garmentWith a constant aura of magic, femininity and malice, the corset confirms itself as a garment rich in history and suggestions, timeless and never out of fashion, as the recent street style proposals also confirm.