Corselet
Encyclopedia
Foundation garment
A foundation garment is an undergarment designed to temporarily alter the wearer's body shape, to achieve a more fashionable figure...
, sharing elements of both brassieres and girdles. It may incorporate lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
in front or in back. The term originated by the addition of the diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
suffix "-ette" to the word corset
Corset
A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...
.
History
Bodice
A bodice, historically, is an article of clothing 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 to distinguish it from...
". The corselet as an item of women's clothing began to gain traction in 1914, as a substitute for wearing two separate pieces (a brassiere
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
with either a girdle
Girdle
A girdle is a garment that encircles the lower torso, perhaps extending below the hips, and worn often for support. The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English, the term girdle is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset in popularity...
or a corset). The bust uplift cups were first introduced in 1933, but did not become common until 1943.
Merry widow
A corselet was released by Warner's in 1955, named after The Merry WidowThe Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, a 1905 operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
that has been adapted several times into feature-length films.
This new design featured demi-cups and a shorter girdle than its predecessors. This type of lingerie is also known as a torsolette, and is used in bridal lingerie, much like the bustier
Bustier
A bustier is a form-fitting garment for women, which is traditionally worn as lingerie. Its primary purpose is to push up the bust by tightening against the upper midriff and forcing the breasts up, while gently shaping the waist. Nowadays, it might also be worn as a push-up bra under a low-backed...
.
The original merry widow was a corselet incorporating slim panels of black, elastic yarn netting. A heavy-duty zipper
Zipper
A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
was inserted behind a velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
-backed hook-and-eye flange, and the entire garment was lined with nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
voile
Voile
Voile is a soft, sheer fabric, usually made of 100% cotton or cotton blends including linen or polyester. The term comes from French, and means veil. Because of its light weight, the fabric is mostly used in soft furnishing. Full-length curtains in hot countries are made with voile and used as...
. Nine long, spiral wires were encased in black satin
Satin
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
.
Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
is reported to have said, "I am telling you, the merry widow was designed by a man. A woman would never do that to another woman."
"Merry widow" is the generic term for a corselet bra
Brassiere
A brassiere is an undergarment that covers, supports, and elevates the breasts. Since the late 19th century, it has replaced the corset as the most widely accepted method for supporting breasts....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Interval and rebirth
Around 1960, tightTight
*High and tight, a hairstyle typical in the U.S. military*Tight end, a position in American football on the offensive team*Tight your black belt hard!, a popular judo manga in Japan*TighT, a psychedelic trance live act from KohPhangan, Thailand...
s and trousers began to replace corselets. However, Maidenform
Maidenform
Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by three people: seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal...
and other mainstream lingerie and undergarment manufacturers have sold corselets as "control slips" since around 1975.
Variations and relatives
- A short corselet without garters or shoulder straps is a torsolette or a bustier.
- A corselet in two parts is a brassiere and a girdle.
- A corselet with a stiff back and laces is a corsageCorsage (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...
or a corset. - A soft corselet is a slipSlip (clothing)Slip is a woman's undergarment worn beneath a dress or skirt to help it hang smoothly and to prevent chafing of the skin from coarse fabrics such as wool...
.