A woman, if asked to make a break between her 40 cm waist circumference and healthy lungs, what would she choose? Victorian women would choose the former. Because of this, they would rather endure uterine prolapse and the gastrointestinal discomfort caused by it. As for the small problem of breathing, it is obviously not more terrible than a "bucket waist". In social occasions, it is sometimes a pleasant thing for a lady to faint temporarily because of breathing difficulties, which is a bit like China's angina pectoris or Lin Daiyu's dizziness, which also makes smelling salt one of the necessary items for women at that time.
Corsets first became popular in Spain. At that time, it was probably the first half of16th century. People made a sleeveless corset with whale bones as the skeleton. This corset is in the shape of an inverted triangle, and it is tight from shoulder to waist after wearing it. Adjustable lace can tighten a woman's waist to an ideal degree. The matching bottom is very swollen. The ring made of whale bones, rattan or metal wire supports the bell-shaped skirt layer by layer, and is covered with gorgeous fabric reaching the ground, thus forming a magnificent scene when the ladies stroll through the court. Spanish princess Catherine wore this dress when she married King Henry VIII of England. As a result, in the second half of the16th century, corsets and strapless quickly became popular in Europe, and the strangest "slimming movement" in human history began.
The first person who pushed "slimming" to the extreme was Princess Catherine de Medici of France. Because her waist circumference was rumored to be 40 cm, European women immediately changed the standard of corset. The elastic function originally designed for wearing comfort is now redundant. Whale corsets are no longer applicable, and they are replaced by iron corsets. A metal part consisting of front, back, left and right iron sheets is designed to be used between the iron sheets. You can imagine the clicking sound when wearing this kind of clothes, just like closing a window or locking a small password box, so some people describe this bra as a "painful prison uniform".
Today, I opened some SM websites, and you can still see similar "torture devices" on the shopping websites there. Those sadists may be able to clearly distinguish the pleasure of meat touching iron, but women 300 years ago could not bear it any longer. In the continuous back injury, rib deformation and other illnesses, they finally chose the latter between slim waist and survival, and the iron corset was abandoned.
/kloc-at the beginning of the 0/8th century, people had a soft spot for petite and slender bodies. Women often use hidden splint bras to control their body shape, but they are very disgusted with the naturally presented muscles. They like rounded necks, plump arms, extremely low necklines and towering nipples, exaggerated hips propped up with braces, and artificial legs that make calves look fuller. Women who are addicted to social activities convey their love for their lovers with melancholy eyes. Smiling mouths, slender chubby hands and feet squeezed in pointed shoes, the bondage of these costumes, the body propped up by metal frames and sticky rouge have made entertainment extravagant and lewd, and also brought dizziness, anemia and fatigue. Therefore, in the prescription prescribed by the doctor, it is always necessary to "walk in a place with good air and exercise restraint." The corset tended to be loose for a long time, but it went to extremes again in the19th century.
/kloc-aristocratic women in the 1950 s spent more time on clothes than any of us now. At that time, a kind of skirt called petticoat was popular. This skirt is made of light metal, and then filled or coated with horse hair, hemp and other materials as a skirt. It is almost impossible to wear this kind of skirt by one person, and it is usually done with the assistance of more than two assistants. First, they have to help her put on a corset, tie a drawstring from the back, then put on underwear and close-fitting long underwear, then a flannel petticoat, then an inner petticoat, then a skirt that expands like a wheel, then a starched white petticoat, then a petticoat with two layers of gauze, and finally a skirt made of light fabrics such as taffeta or perforated fabric. Wearing this skirt requires not only enough manpower, but also enough space. Otherwise, when the servants spread the skirt like a sun umbrella and cover it from the hostess's head, it is very likely that the coffee table, dressing table or other small things next to it will also be put in. In fact, some women have noticed this, but they are marching around in huge skirts, not to show their bodies, but to stuff their favorite things into their skirts when people are unprepared. Because the success rate of stealing in this dress is always high, Clinolin is no longer popular after 1868.
Paley wrote in his Paris Woman from 65438 to 0868 that "bourgeois women live an honest and clean life without makeup", referring to the makeup fashion at that time. At that time, women had just left Italian heavy makeup, but they went to the other extreme in the pursuit of morbid beauty. In the dressing room, women coat their faces with white floating liquid or cold cream and thick powder. If their hair is golden, they coat their cheeks with pink blush, then lengthen their eyebrows with eyebrow pencil, draw black eyeliner and brush their eyelashes black and bright. This kind of makeup combined with the image created by corset made Victorian women find the connection between indulgence and modesty. On the surface, they are dignified and elegant. When they sit down, they never cross their legs and lean back. When they speak, they look steady and behave appropriately. But on the other hand, the breasts held high by the corset reveal irresistible lust. Zuo Kang wrote in the book "Dress Reform as Anti-Feminism": "As a fashion, waist-tied and low-necked dress first appeared in the middle of14th century and lasted until World War I, which is not an accidental phenomenon in history. Waist girdling and low-necked clothing are the main means to increase the sexiness of western clothing. They appear at the same time as people's sexual consciousness and open sexual guilt, and they are mutually causal with Christian sexual repression, which reached its peak in the Victorian era. "
The debate about corset has never stopped. Some people say that it brings the beauty of women to the extreme, while others say that it is an unnatural and morbid flower and the number one killer of women's health. Betty Ryan, a tennis star before the First World War, recalled that he had witnessed the blood on the railing of the women's locker room of the British tennis club-it was left by the female players after they put on their sweaty bras.
Although people suspect that corsets have destroyed many organs of women: stomach, uterus, lungs ..., Victorian women, like modern women, are fearless in front of beautiful words. Like today's artificial beauty. They allow doctors to cut their noses, eyelids, lips, breasts and thighs with scalpels ... because they believe it will really make them more beautiful.