The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-08-12
The Evolution of the Corset.

The fact that so many people are
content with the order of things which
civilization has decided for them be-
fore they were born, may account for
their objection to accepting any decid-
ed change in matters which concern
their own individuality.
Only now that dress reformers and
some of the extreme sanitarians are
telling US that womens' dress Is I'M
healthy, and there is no rhyme or rea-
son why they should wear stays or
skirts. and they both are injurious, we
naturally begin to wonder why Moth
er Grundy ever allowed them to be
treated as necessities, and why she is
now so much opposed to their aboli-
ton. As long ago as the days of the
Greeks and Romans, slight, Glance
figure was admired, and stOutness was
looked upon as deformity. Martial
ridiculed fat women, and Ovid puts
large waists in the first rank of his
remedies against love. X x Bandages
were worn under the empire, such as
are shown in the Musee des Antiques,
but when harbarism succeeded the
luxurious habits of later Rome, even
the bandages were discarded. The
period of transition which then began
with the abandoning of all bandages,
ended some centuries later in the
commencement of the real corset. At
first it was simple under bodice,
which fitted the body exactly without
COMPRISING it. Then, as Europe
gradually emerged from barbarism,
and the women became coquetish,
tighter fitting bOdices were worn, the
wais. compressed and the upper part
Of the figure, if we are TO accept as
correct the portraits Of Charles WIS
Queen Isabel, very much decOlette.
Priests and abbOts Numbered their
threats against the practice, but in
vain.
Neither whalebOne. wood nor steel
was, however, employed at that time.
With the advent of Catherine de
Medlci new era dawned. She intro
'duced the real whaleboned bodice
with strong Dusk in front. and her
example was soon initiated by all
Europe.
These stiff whaleboned corsets last
ed throughout all changes of outward
attire, they were prominent features
of the Restoration fashions and of the
Vatican period; but the revolution
at the end of the eighteenth century,
which shook, not only France but all
Europe, had an equally subversive eff
iect on corsets. They disappeared
completely, and the corsetus as Cath
crime de Medici introduced it has new.
er re-appeared. With the establish
ment of the empire in France, new
fashion appeared which soon became
popular all over Europe. This was
the short bodice, armpit waist fashion
which necessitated no more than sup
porting bandages similar to those of
the old Romans.
But it is quite a question with all
our boosted civilization if we have hit
upon the right material and kind of
machines for the object in view, and
whether sanitarians anxious for the
welfare of Future generations act
wisely when they recommend all
women to abjure stays. The bayader-
es of India, who possess the most per- |
feet figures of any women on earth.
have a much more charming and |
healthful device than any Europeans.
Their corsets are formed out of the
bark of a Madagascar tree on a prin-
cipal which permits them every
freedom of movement in breathing
and in any form of exercise. These
are wonderful productions of ingen-
uity. The color resembles the skin
to a'wonderful degree. and theimsterial
is so fine that the most delicate touch |
will hardly distinguish it from human
flesh. Once made these corsets are !
seldom removed, the bayaders even
sleeping in them. They thus preserve
astonishing beautiful figures to an
advanced age, without pain or discom-
fort to themselves, whilst We, who
boast ourselves intellectual and civiliz-
ed, torture without identifying our
calvoS