That sounded really, really, rude, so I'd like to apologize now and avoid
the rush. =} I'm passionate about the fit of corsets, and when I see
people wearing ill-fitting corsets and then going on and on about how
uncomfortable and torturous corsets are, it makes my teeth itch.
But my Waugh corset fits me well enough that I can wear it all living
history day and live to tell the tale. I'm not sure what your objection to
it is.
As to the Waugh corset, again, I'm not saying it's inaccurate; I'm saying
it's not representative. The straight front was technically invented in
1900, but there are corsets that provided a straight front from before
then, and corsets that didn't after then. In those first couple of years,
there was a LOT of experimentation with the general idea; the Waugh corset
is clearly from this era, and is one of the dead-end lines of
experimentation. It's really just not that well-designed a corset, since a
horizontal seam all the way across the side of the waist is a Bad Idea
when it comes to this sort of thing.
Mine is lined, and the seam at the waist doesn't cause a problem. But
then, I don't lace it super tightly, only tightly enough to produce the
right curves, and I wear something for a chemise under it.
The early straight fronts were different in a lot of ways from what came
about after the experimental period, and while they would have been
considered real straight fronts in 1900 and 1901, by the latter half of
1902 they would have been completely out of step with the fashion and
incapable of producing the fashionable silhouette. To go back to the
original question, the silhouette desired was that of the middle of the
decade, and the corset desired was one that would enforce that
forward-leaning pose sometimes called an S-curve. The Waugh corset is not
of the style used to create this silhouette.
We do 1901, and the Waugh one does fine for that. I think it would do fine
for 1904 or 1906 when that S-curve is much more pronounced.
When I first saw it 15 years ago, I thought, "Wow, yep, that's a
stereotypical Edwardian corset!" When I look at it now, I think,
"Wow! What a weird example of an Edwardian corset! It must be
from--yep, I knew it: 1901."
Wierd example it may be, but I've seen early examples, in like Sears
catalogs, of pretty much the same thing. Again, I'm not sure what your
objection to it is.
CarolynKayta Barrows
dollmaker, fibre artist, textillian
www.FunStuft.com
///\\\\\
////-@@\\\
(((( 7 )))
)(( <> ))(
* ) ( *
/----\ /---\
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
