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Corset In The Victorian Era

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Regardless of the current events of the time, the corset remained the mainstay. It was perhaps the most well-known fashion necessity of the Victorian Era. Many believed that the Victorian corset was the first of its kind, but that is untrue. The earliest record of a corset-like invention dated to 2000 B.C (“Evolution of Corsets”). In the ever-evolving world of fashion, it is remarkable that the idea of the corset has existed for such a long time! Previous styles of corsets included stays, busks, and stomachers. The creation was rarely known as the corset until the mid-eighteenth century (“Evolution of Corsets”). The corset enjoyed many different purposes throughout history, and not only to create detrimentally diminutive waists. Corsets have …show more content…

The crinoline is yet another contraption people synonymize with the nineteenth century. There have been several inventions in the fashion industry preluding the crinoline. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the farthingale was used to give a dress a large, box-like shape to signify status and wealth (Rowland-Warne 22-23). Also, the pannier came into use in the eighteenth century, which were contraptions fastening at the hips to give a falsely supple shape (Rowland-Warne 30). These two prior inventions were undoubtedly used to make the elaborate “cage” crinoline of the nineteenth century. While the inventor of the crinoline is unknown, many people think it might have been Frenchman R.C. Milliet, who had one of the cage crinoline’s first patents (Purtich 2015). Another man thought to be possibly responsible for the cage crinoline were the Thomson brothers, who were the heads of the most successful cage crinoline factory in the mid-1800s (Purtich 2015). The cage crinoline is made of steel hoops, where the farthingale is made of materials like whalebone and cane (Rowland-Warne 23, 42). The steel hoops were connected by strong tape (Rowland-Warne 42). It was immediately loved by women for the structure it gave to their dresses, and the effortless application of the crinoline. Before the cage crinoline, Victorian women wore several layers of petticoats, which were very heavy to

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