Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-12

organs tndC need Draclng, Dut 1t is q
preventive of spinal troubles"
OF course DR.. Lorenz does not ad-
vocate a return to the old wasp
wasted high corsets which cramp the
body and prevent free movement of the
muscles. He believes that the all i'm
portant consideration is that the corset
should in every instance be a perfect
fit, perhaps even modelled after casts
made from the person who is to wear it.
Yet it is doubtful if DIR. Lorenz' ad-
vice will make much of an impression
upon the rising generation of young
women, as long as the corset remains
out Of style. Just as their great grand
mothers insisted that they were
healthy and comfortable with 13-inch
waists even while they swooned, so the
modern prom girls are prepared TO risk
the gravest anatomical injuries rather
than be %stigmatized as "old ironsides''
at the college dances.
Fashions vs.. Health
The corset controversy has ragged
continuously from the very earliest
times. and always fashion has prevailed
over health. The date Of the first ap-
pearance of the corset is not known,
but among the art works discovered in
the ruins of one of the mysterious
forest cities of South America, whose
history is lost in remote antiquity, there
is a bas-relief representing a female
figure which shows Enthusiastically that
a contrivance similar to the modern
corset was then in use. This consisted
Of a complicated and elaborate waist
bandage, which by a system of circular
and transverse folding and looping con-
fined the waist from just below the
hips as firmly and compactly as the
most unyielding corset of modern times.
Some authorities give the Germans
the credit for inventing the first
European corset and possibly introduc-
ing it into Rome. At any rate it is
known that the early German women
and the fine Roman ladies wore much
the same type of restricting bandages.
That the corset was found ridiculous
even in the somewhat ridiculous Middle
Ages is shown by a sketch dated 1043,
found in the British Museum, which
cartoons not only the restricting cor
set, but also the trailing draperies of
the period worn so long that they need
ed knotting to be kept from the ground.
The heavy steel corsets of the time of
Catherine de Medici, and the hinged
steel box with the depending rod or bar
of steel over which the long peaked
bodice of the dress was adjusted, af-
fected by Queen Elizabeth. also pro-
duced much sardonic amusement and
denunciatlOn.
Never in all these years has public
opinion triumphed over the dictates Il
fashion. Corset styles have changed
not because they wer einjurious or
grotesque in appearance, but because
some world leader of fashion, in the
old days usually a queen, decided to
change the line sof her figure.
Twice before corcets have ben abol-
ished. or at least reduced to small pro-
portions, not as a concession to health
or comfort but because style demanded
it. The first occasion was IN the sew
enteenth century in the Netherlands,
Spain, and Italy when a drastic change
occurred in the standards of feminine
beauty. Slim waists and narrow
shoulders were suddenly passe, and the
Venus of Milo with her 2S-inch waist
became the popular model. This vogue
is evident in a drawing by Adrian
Boise of a rich Dutch lady about the
year 1880. in which it is apparent that
the feminine figure of those days was
little restricted by any artificial devise.
The second period followed the
French revolution when at the begin
ming Of the nineteenth century the cos
tune of the empire was evolved. This
was built on Grecian lines m required
no corset except a band passing below
the bust and kept in place by shoulder
straps. 1t was doubtless too comfort
able a style to last. for it soon van
ished and was succeeded by q period
of exaggerated tight lacing. Here in
America our grandmothers and great
grandmothers laced themselves liter
ally to the point of suffocation. Women
swooned constantly. largely from lack
of breath, and more than once, We are
told, death followed some sudden exer-
ton undertaken by a tightly encased
woman At this time the genteel waist
was 13 inches. which narrow circum-
ference the ladies' secured by tying
their corset laces to a bedpost and
then walking away, thus producing
heavy pressure.
The Shifting WaistIins
This tight Iacing continued even
though the feminine figure underwent
another severe change about the pc
Rod of the Spanish American war
when the straight front and bias hip
form corset became popular. The cf-
feet of this innovation was to lengthen
the apparent waistline. According to
an enthusiastic account of the time, all
pNit' .h'h ouuutu oNeE Inc H1HS anu
ended in a point in front, giving to
even the stoutcst women a degree Of
sl~enderness. On the other hand, this
style was just as highly and plausibly
recommended for slender women. The
chief charm of such a corset, its cham
plonS declared, was that it forced an
erect carriage. for it was manifestly
impossible to SLOUGH or relax in it.
This type of corset probably aroused
a greater storm of protest from the
medical profession than any of its
predecessors. One who raised an out
ragged voice against it declared it was
responsible for many cases of floating
kidney among women. Another pre-
dicted that it would result in q perma-
nently deformed race of women, and
pointed out that already the female
fIYUfe Of the mnmanf u,nc falling IN a