Zhang Ailing said in the "Lianhuantao": "Western women's waists are made of steel bars and whale bones. Although thin, it is like iron. " Just like China women's foot-binding, since Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour invented the "whale bone skirt", foreign women has become popular. In order to participate in social activities, aristocratic women have been wearing this kind of corset since they were teenagers, so when this kind of skirt is popular, European ladies are easy to faint, because tights make them breathless and have a small appetite, so they faint after a little stimulation.

"Whale bone skirt" is a beautiful and exaggerated arc formed by binding the body into an "S" shape with tights and wearing a skirt outside. This skirt was once made of wire and wooden frame, and later it was made of whale bone, specifically whale beard. Whale whiskers are actually long, soft and hard things in whale esophagus. Because whales have no teeth, they live by eating plankton and small fish and shrimp. These whales have to filter out seawater and food. So this must be the best material for skirt support, very soft, elastic, not easy to break, and convenient for ladies to sit. But whalebone is very scarce, and an adult fin whale can't even make several skirts, so people slaughtered whales in large numbers at that time, and many European businessmen made a fortune by selling whales to Eskimos living around the Arctic Circle.

However, wearing this "whale bone skirt" for a long time will lead to blockage of blood vessels and oppression of internal organs, leading to a series of diseases such as constipation and hemorrhoids. Many women will lose bone during childbirth and their pelvis will be too narrow, leading to dystocia and death.