Bodice - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A bodice, historically, is an article of clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

for women, covering the body from the neck to the waist. In modern usage it typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress

Dress

A dress is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.Dress may also refer to:*Clothing in general*Costume, fancy dress...

to distinguish it from the skirt and sleeves.

The term comes from pair of bodies (because the garment was originally made in two pieces that fastened together, frequently by lacing).

In historical usage, particularly in Victorian

Victorian fashion

Victorian fashion comprises the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and grew in province throughout the Victorian era and the reign of Queen Victoria, a period which would last from June 1837 to January 1901. Covering nearly two thirds of the 19th century, the 63 year reign...

and early 20th century fashion

1900s in fashion

Fashion in the period 1900–1910 in European and European-influenced countries continued the long elegant lines of the 1890s. Tall, stiff collars characterize the period, as do women's broad hats and full "Gibson Girl" hairstyles...

, a bodice (in earlier sources, body) indicates the upper part of a dress that was constructed in two parts (i.e., with separate skirt and bodice, such as a ballet tutu

Ballet tutu

A tutu is a skirt worn as a costume in a ballet performance, often with attached bodice. It might be single layer, hanging down, or multiple layers starched and jutting out.There are several types of ballet tutu:...

), but of matching or coordinating fabric with the intention of wearing the two parts as a unit. In dressmaking, the term waist (sometimes given as "dress waist" to distinguish it from a shirtwaist

Waist (clothing)

Waist is a common term for the bodice of a dress or for a blouse or woman's shirt from the early 19th century through the Edwardian period.A shirtwaist was originally a separate blouse constructed like a shirt....

) was also used. During wear, the parts might be connected by hooks and eyes

Hook-and-eye closure

A hook-and-eye closure is a very simple and secure method of fastening garments together. It consists of a metal hook, commonly made of flattened wire bent to the required shape, and a eye of the same material into which the hook fits....

. This construction was standard for fashionable garments from the 18th century until the late 19th century, and had the advantages of allowing a voluminous skirt to be paired with a close-fitting bodice, and of allowing two or more bodices to be worn with the same skirt (e.g., a high-necked bodice and a low-necked bodice allowed the same skirt to serve for both daywear and evening wear). One-piece construction became more common after 1900 due to the trend for looser, more simply-constructed clothing with narrower skirts.

In modern usage, bodice typically refers to an upper garment that has removable sleeve

Sleeve

Sleeve is that part of a garment which covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The pattern of the sleeve is one of the characteristics of fashion in dress, varying in every country and period...

s or no sleeves, often low-cut, worn in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

from the 16th century to the 18th century, either over a corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

or in lieu of one. To achieve a fashionable shape and support the bust, the bodice was frequently stiffened with bents (a type of reed

Phragmites

Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...

), or whalebone. The bodice was different from the corset of the time because it was intended to be worn over the other garments. In earlier periods, bodices and corsets were laced in spiral fashion, with one continuous lace. In later periods, both were laced like the modern tennis shoe, with eyelets facing one another. This was more convenient for women who had to dress themselves.

Bodices survive into modern times in the traditional or revived folk dress of many European countries (see, for example, Austrian dirndl

Dirndl

A dirndl [ˈdɪʁndl̩] is a type of traditional dress worn in Bavaria, Liechtenstein, Austria, and South Tyrol, based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants. Dresses that are loosely based on the dirndl are known as Landhausmode.-Description:...

or the Aboyne dress

Aboyne dress

The Aboyne dress is the name given to the prescribed attire for females in the Scottish national dances, such as the Flora MacDonald, the Highland lilt, and others. There are actually two versions of the Aboyne dress in use.- Description :...

worn by Scottish highland dance

Scottish highland dance

The term Highland dance or Highland dancing is used today to refer to a style of athletic solo dancing which developed in the Gaelic Highlands of Scotland...

rs).

Bodice continues in use to refer to the upper portion (minus the sleeves) of a one- or two-piece dress

Dress

. The bodice of a dress was called the corsage
Corsage (bodice)
Corsage refers to the bodice of a dress. In the 19th century, corsage was a common term for a woman's bodice or jacket.In modern usage, corsage is often confused with a corset, but a corset is tighter...

in the 19th century.

Bodices are commonly seen today at Society for Creative Anachronism

Society for Creative Anachronism

The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century...

events or a Renaissance Fair

Renaissance Fair

A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...

.
Romantic novels are sometimes known as bodice-rippers due to the violence done to the heroine's historical clothing as she struggled to have (or escape from) sex with the hero.

Further reading