Vintage Corsets

When it comes to vintage corsets, two words are king: embellishments and lace. This is due to the very description as “vintage”, meaning designers are aiming to recreate an old-fashioned style look on a very modern piece of clothing. To achieve this, they use patternwork and lace, which is effective in bringing a bygone era to life in terms of corsets, but is perhaps an acquired taste.

Due to the very nature of vintage corserts and these adornments, they are predominantly outerwear and to be worn at night. They are simply too fussy to wear under clothes - where the embellishments will catch constantly on the top layer - and too delicate and specific to wear during the day. These restrictions, however, do not mean a good vintage corset does not have a place in a woman’s wardrobe.

With vintage corsets, you have two options - actual vintage or replica vintage. When it comes to actual vintage corsets - that is, those dating back 50 years or more - I would strongly suggest you avoid at all costs. Like any industry, corsetry has come on leaps and bounds as time has progressed and most women will find a true vintage corset extremely uncomfortable. This will mostly be due to the fact that it will be stiffened using whalebone or straight steel - not the most comfortable of materials to wear tied to your body!

No, if you want a vintage look but without the accompanying pain of a genuine article, go for a vintage replica. There are some amazing options out there. As well as the general adornments used, a vintage corset replica will vary slightly in style depending what time period it is meant to be from. For example, a traditional late Victorian corset, it should be made in a way that pushes the body forward and places an emphasis on the buttocks, as this was popular at the time. You should also look for a curved front. Straight fronts were not introduced until the Edwardian period, so if you’re looking for something in this style, a straight front is a necessity.

Perhaps, however, the most popular type of vintage corset is from the 1940s and 1950s, which places a greater emphasis on cinching in the waist rather than creating a smooth silhouette all the way down the torso and hips.

I have spoken about the different shapes, but most vintage corsets will be of a standard shape and simply call themselves vintage corsets due to the aforementioned lace and embellishments. In reality, these things did not exist on any corsets prior to the 1980s, as it was only then that corsets became outerwear. It is up to you if you wish to have a vintage corset which is correct in shape, but you will probably have to sacrifice the adornments for this. Mostly, a nicely decorated, old-fashioned looking corset will serve the purpose just fine without being precisely shape-correct. Considering how uncomfortable some of the historically correct shapes of corsets are, this is probably a sacrifice worth making!