I didn't know there was a sex machine museum in Prague! Gotta go there sometime:-))
Suzi Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: At 23:00 07/11/2006, you wrote: >The story so far: > >Here is the specific block of text that really got my curiosity up, this is >copied from en.wikibooks.org; it's one of the hits I got when I did a google >image search for "iron corset" > >--copied text follows-- > >Iron corsets are Victorian Era corsetcovers made of metal. There are >several in >museum collections. > >It is sometimes claimed that these were the everyday wear of women and girls >throughout Europe in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. >But they are >more likely to be orthopedic instruments used by a very few women >whose posture >was not considered acceptable by the health and beauty standards of the time. > > * It is likely that the Iron Corset was originally a type of armour worn >only by men. > * The fact is as the "iron corset" was used both of men and > women, but only >on dress occasions. The iron was heavy, but the dress was also heavy, and the >iron was padded underneath like armour. The silk of that time was >very expensive >but of poor quality and stretched poorly. It looked beautiful on the shining >metal. The iron corset also worked as a bulletproof waistcoat, because >assassination by knife in heart was a common risk. > * The padded "iron corset" and armour was known as a corset on > women, and a >waistcoat (vest) on men. > >--end copied text-- > >This block, or portions of it, is used on any number of websites. I'd like to >know where these ideas came from. Not in this text is the idea that the iron >corset was invented by the de Medici's, or that Catherine wore one to achieve >her 13 inch waist, though that's another common theme. The iron corsets I've >located so far are as follows: >http://dept.kent.edu/museum/costume/bonc/4subjectsearch/lingerie/lingerie18th/lingerie18.html >one in the sex machines museum (you have been warned)(not actually sexually >explicit) in the "sex machines gallary" http://www.sexmachinesmuseum.com >http://employees.oneonta.edu/angellkg/RENAISSA.HTML near the bottom >of the page. >This one is in the Cluny museum? >http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Iron_corset two more, as well as >duplicates and drawings. >http://web.archive.org/web/20050302121500/http://greatdayamerica.com/style/fashion/lycracorset.shtml >http://www.staylace.com/unsortedjpgs/iron.jpg I *think* this one is in the >Wallace Collection >http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/fall99/bendlin/page2.html one new and >one repeat >and finally >http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13444/13444-h/13444-h.htm#page101 >which is a facimile of a book published in 1920 which includes >variations on the >de Medici comments. > >I have some theories, any or all of which may be true. I think some of the >corsets may have been shop signs or orthopedic devices. I think some of them >might have been victorian reproductions or fetish objects. (I have >at least one >victorian "naughty" picture of a woman in an iron corset--it is a "medieval" >costume) > >I welcome any thoughts anybody else might have. I have always thought they could be early dress dummies - no boobs ones are easy to pad to shape. Suzi _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume --------------------------------- Access over 1 million songs - Yahoo! Music Unlimited. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
