Corsets were typically use it the 1800 and progressed in the 1900, mostly use to disguise ones figures now in the 21st century women use girdles for the same purpose. Siri Hustvedt author of “ Eight Days in a corset, explains her experience in a corset, she was an extra in a film the “ Washington Square. ” She was not an actress nor was they really interested in her, the film director Agnieszka Holland was interested in Hustvedt daughter Sophie. Once the fitting was done on Sophie, the corset applied to Hustvedt and that is when her bad experience began, as they tightened the stays in the dressing room she began to feel faint.
Not only women wore corset, men also wore them, as fashion statement or for health reasons. Corsets are and will always be around, it played a role in the way people looked and felt is such an early time that it will still be used in the years to come. Hustvedt is a prime example of the danger of using a corset as she says “ Within a few minutes, I felt faint. I began to sway, dropped, but did not black out. ” Although there is a danger in wearing such a piece of clothing, people often wore corsets no matter the risk.
This just goes to show the length some people will go to in order to see a transformation in their appearance. It could be for a daily experience or such things as a movie film role as Hustvedt participated in. Hustvedt also say, “ There is something appealing about transformation, and clothes are the fastest route to leaping out of your life and into someone else’s. The whalebone corset I wore for eight days catapulted me into another time and another aesthetic, and I like it. Even though the corset that Hustvedt wore did her bad she still enjoyed wearing it.
Women wore corsets as garments to hold the shape of their body in a desired shape. As Hustvedt describes it as, “ The inward slope of a woman’s waist becomes extreme and the tension of lacing the waist pushes the breast upward. Suddenly I had new breast. ” The reason women wore the garments was because of the feeling and the idea that it made their body different. Some even consider it erotic, as an embrace that last for however long they keep the garment around their middle.
The corset was also blamed for ruining women’s body, causing both physical and spiritual miseries. Men wore corsets to slim their figure and to also be able to fit trousers and jackets in a fashionable manor. The men wore corsets just as long as the women did in the 1700 and 1800 it was a fashion statement to wear such things. Yet in the 1800 the few who did wear fashion corset were subject to ridicule. Even though fashion in the 19th century for men was to look slim with broad shoulders and a slim waist line.
When women dressed in the 19th century according to their social statue and it was not only the way they dressed that separated them, it also had to with posture and upbringing that made these girl different. Many girls were groomed like a race horse, they were taught to sing, play instrument, and either taught how to speak Italian or French. Although these are attributes that are taught, it is still a costume that these ladies are wearing, in order to seem more intelligent than others girls of lesser standard.