Thin or thick corset? Silhouette comparison (Part 1)

How many of you have looked in the mirror while wearing a corset, admiring the slim curve of your waist - only to turn to the side and quickly realize that your profile didn't live up to your expectations?

Whether thin or thick, in the three parts of this topic, I mainly mean a corset model that is domed and curved inward (Victorian model) or, on the contrary, rather smooth and without too many curves.

A corset changes the shape of your curves

All female fashion and lingerie enthusiasts, but many people in general, know that wearing a corset tightens the sides of the waist (at the obliques), which gives the illusion of a tighter waist. And what is interesting is that a corset can also create this effect without actually reducing the waist circumference: while the shape of your upper body is generally oval or elliptical (wider from side to side than from front to back), a corset compresses it into a rounder shape - just by exerting a form of bilateral pressure on each side of the body, and allowing this volume to balance more from the front to the back of the body.

The drawback that some corset wearers encounter, especially if they have a chest of nature that is flatter, is that the corset in question generally makes you look wider in profile than if you were not wearing a corset - this is due to the redistribution of your body mass (especially fat), combined with the thickness of the corset which must be taken into account (you are thinner by a few centimeters under your corset).

The profile of your corset can have two shapes:

To simplify, the front of the corset can have two main shapes: it can be really flat, or rather "domed" / curved to create a more concave front. People from the Victorian era were known for their corset models with a curved front, as well as a sometimes exaggeratedly flat stomach (probably more exaggerated in the fashion illustrations and engravings of the time, than in reality), but the stomach was seen as very attractive and feminine at that time.

But with the popularity of S-shaped corsets with a straight front, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, we can see that this gave the illusion of an even tighter waist, since the majority of the volume came from the sides, and little or none from the front. We can claim that if you put an Edwardian corset and a Victorian corset side by side with the same waist circumference, the Edwardian corset could look tighter from the front, but thicker from the side.

Illustration from the early 1900s showing the visible difference between a Victorian corset model with a "domed front", on the left, and the Edwardian corset with a "straight front", at the bottom (it therefore causes a forward leaning posture unlike the Edwardian model which keeps the body straight).

Edwardian Corset 1910

Towards the end of the 19th century, many assumed that the Edwardian model was better for health than its predecessor, in relation to what happens inside the body when wearing a Victorian-style corset, probably as part of the Edwardian propaganda aimed at promoting the S-shaped "health" corset.

We now know, thanks to technology such as modern imaging, that this hypothesis was unfounded (the liver is not pushed down by the corset).

It is important to clarify here that regardless of the style and era of the corset you find "prettier" in your eyes, there is no good or bad corset in itself (despite the incessant advertising spots for the Edwardian corset from the beginning of the last century). Some women like the concave and curved front of the Victorian look, while other women will prefer a flat and even rigid front, equipped with very firm bones. It depends particularly on the specialty of the corset maker, your morphology (this is completely taken into account), but also on the effect you are looking for in a corset (including the degree of waist circumference reduction) and what you find comfortable.

Therefore, the debate on the opposition between straight corsets and domed corsets is not only subjective, it is also conditional.

It will also depend on the posture you desire to have. Straight-front corsets with an S-curve used to compartmentalize the body into a well-corrected posture - they did not really sag, but they tended to bend the lower back as well, and in a way that was not natural.

When I had X-rays of my body while I happened to be wearing different styles of corsets, my chiropractor saw that the Edwardian-style corsets with the stiffer front triggered a rather artificial tilt of my neck, but also kyphotic (a spinal deformity caused by an exaggerated rounding of the thorax). The corset tended to push my chest forward, just as my hips and shoulders backward, which forced my head to lean forward to compensate. In some women, this could create tension in the neck, as well as pain, but also headaches, etc.

While when I wore a Victorian-inspired 19th-century corset, it held my body in a more neutral position. Which had the effect that my spine was in a natural alignment. So, it is not because a slimming accessory such as a corset will give you a flat stomach that you will necessarily have a healthy posture.

If you want to know more about the comparisons between each type of corset presented here - See Part 2 Thin or Thick Corset