graphic by claire evans
The 90s are coming back, but not the decade full of streetwear, Britney Spears, crimped hair and acid-wash jeans. Thanks in part to the popularity of Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ and TikTok influencers obsessing over vintage-inspired garb like the infamous Amazon corset, it’s the ancestral fashion of the 1890s that has everyone lacing up to participate in this romantic revival of a key historical trend: the corset.
While corsets may not be the newest item to walk the runways or grace the streets, this garment’s statement has continuously evolved. From the Victorian and Edwardian eras, where larger-than-life bonnets and delicate multi-layered petticoats graced afternoon teas and strolls down the courtyards, to today’s fashion aesthetics, inspired by “Regencycore” and going-out wear, a garment initially intended to be worn underneath clothes has never been more exposed to the surface.
#Regencycore took the royal reins on TikTok, where thousands of users romanticized their lives through hyper-feminine and luxurious fashion looks. Hallmarks being empire-waist dresses, pearl embellishments, opera-length gloves, and of course, the waist-accentuating corset, many of which were popularized during the Regency Era. But, this corset revival is not just restricted to social media trends.
Grammy-award winner Olivia Rodrigo embraced the 90s grunge look by wearing a corset top in her “good 4 u” music video, as she sings about female rage and dances around open flames. At 2022’s Met Gala, themed “Gilded Glamour”, brands like Burberry and Thom Browne styled Bella Hadid in a skin-tight black leather corset and Lizzo in a golden embellishment coat on top of a peek-a-boo corset dress — showing that all bodies can pull off a corset. The fall 2023 runways of Alexander McQueen and Wiederhoeft enabled corsets to make their way across high fashion. And even then, corsets took the Coachella stage as girl group headliners BLACKPINK wore matching pink pearl-encrusted tops fully functional to dance and perform in.
As the corset emerges through current fashion, pop culture and music trends, the revolutionized statement of simply wearing one sees women reclaiming the once oppressive and patriarchal device into something that unabashedly expresses empowerment and sexuality.
The corset made its first appearance during the Victorian era of the early 1800s. It was a “Corpse Bride” aesthetic of attire — a time where formality, modesty and properness were of the utmost importance. Think Elizabeth Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice”, donning a high-necked gown with delicate embroidery and lace detailing. Or the daring Scarlett O’Hara from “Gone with the Wind”, with her billowing crinoline skirts and tight-fitting corsets accentuating her curves. Yet, due to the era’s tight-laced social norms, women didn’t have much of a choice in wearing these garments.
Although most women did willingly wear corsets to fit the cultural norm, these garments slowly became an emblem of a toxic beauty standard imposed upon them, rather than a fashion statement. Beyond their physical impact, the corset controversy was also a symbol of social oppression. It was a tool utilized to shape women’s bodies into conforming to an ideal beauty standard set by men, ultimately cinching their movement both physically and symbolically.
In today’s world, the sought-after hourglass figure that mimics any of the Kardashians or the cinched-waist look of the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, is often achieved by investing thousands of dollars into cosmetic surgery or modernized shapewear. But back when technology wasn’t nearly as revolutionized or the latest SKIMS shapewear set wasn’t the hottest trending item, boned corsets made out of whalebone, steel or reed were the go-to shapewear undergarments. Shaping the body into a more “idealized” and hourglass form, the Victorian corset quite literally sculpted the body into forms that were not organically possible, taking the phrase “Beauty is pain,” to a whole new level.
However, the signature hourglass figure suddenly went out of style by the 1910s (as all beauty trends come and go), with the silhouette en vogue moving away from the pigeon-breasted Edwardian look into an “S” body shape that accentuated not only the waist but the derriere. How ironic that a device, like the corset, made to slim down and hug curves ended up influencing The BBL trend before cosmetic surgery even became popular!
After World War I, society began seeing fashion as a vehicle for challenging socio political ideals. Driven by a new lifestyle that strayed away from the home maker norm, women took up dancing, smoking and having sex more freely. In this era of liberation, the corset was viewed as a symbol of repression — a garment that belonged to the old regime of mothers and grandmothers. During the 1940s, as the world found itself at war once again, women were called upon to take up the mantle of men who had gone to the front lines. As a result, utilitarian and loose-fitting clothing became the norm, pointing to a shift in societal values and the newfound confidence of women who were breaking barriers in the workforce.
In the wake of the sexual liberation movement and hippie culture of the early 1970s, another subculture began to take form emphasizing edgy and risqué features. And with that, the punk movement was born. A culture war between the British and Americans started as people were figuring out who claimed the culture first, but nonetheless, both punk cultures were built on the foundations of rebellion, defying mainstream norms and simply “loosening” up a bit when it came to self-expression and fashion. Even a growing number of young men also adopted corsets, wearing them in clubs that accepted more ‘radical’ or ‘transgressive’ forms of sexual expression. Punks eschewed the polished and sophisticated styles of the day and instead opted for ripped and torn clothing, studded leather jackets and safety pins as accessories. Their hair was often dyed in bright and unconventional colors, and they embraced heavy makeup and bold jewelry as a means of expressing themselves. It was truly an era built on nonconformity, individualism and DIY ethos.
Patti Smith and Joan Jett pioneered the 1970s hard rock era, proving women can take on the unconventional edge that rock and roll has traditionally given to men. While the corset never disappeared, even as the 70s championed loose and flowy clothing, young women who belonged to these alternative subcultures of hard rock started to wear corsets and even underwear over their garments as a symbol of rebellion and sexual perversity. Wearing tight, constraining clothing became a liberating experience for women everywhere.
Now, it would be an absolute injustice to talk about punk fashion without mentioning the matriarch of punk fashion herself, Vivienne Westwood. Making rock and roll-inspired clothing with odes to the original punk movement and fetish wear, the late English fashion designer helped bring the punk and rule-breaking aesthetic to the mainstream. During the 1970s, she transformed corsetry into daring daytime wear, creating fetishistic garments at her King’s Road shop, SEX, which became a hub for London’s punk movement. However, it was the Portrait collection in 1990 that produced one of Westwood’s most provocative and legendary corsetry designs, “The Stature of Liberty”. Inspired by 18th-century art from The Wallace Collection, the collection showcased an erotically-charged corset, exemplifying Westwood’s bold and audacious approach to fashion.
While Westwood’s punk edge helped transform the corset’s purpose from underwear to outerwear, Jean Paul Gaultier’s corsets helped blend masculinity and femininity together. In 1983, French fashion maverick Jean Paul Gaultier started playing around with bold, avant-garde shapes and gave birth to the first versions of the infamous cone bra. He drew inspiration from the bullet bra silhouette of the 1950s, but cranked up the sex appeal to an extreme level with his Fall/Winter 1984 Barbès collection. The show-stopping piece? A ruched velvet corset with a lace-up front and the unforgettable conical-shaped bustier. Although the American fashion press wasn’t quite ready for Gaultier’s daring designs, European publications hailed the look as a fashion moment that would last forever. Fast forward to the 90s, and who better to take Gaultier’s rebellious cone bra to new heights than the queen of pop herself, Madonna? The original Material Girl rocked a custom pink satin corset with a cone-shaped bra on her iconic Blonde Ambition tour in 1990. But instead of creating the feminine curves that corsets were traditionally meant to enhance, Gaultier altered the female form and transformed it into a pointed and formidable weapon symbolizing female power. While Westwood and Gaultier’s creations differed greatly, the two innovated an entirely new meaning behind the corset: one that harnessed strength by accentuating the control that anyone wearing a corset can have over their bodies.
From the very first ‘It Girl’ of Regencycore, Marie Antoinette, to modern influencers who turn bustiers into upscale “going out” outfits, one overarching theme has continuously flourished: freedom of self-expression. Whether it’s wearing a corset to live out an untapped nostalgia for life on the royal court, embracing a “Cottagecore” fantasy or simply wearing it to feel (and look) good on a night out, a garment that was made with the intention of restricting women both physically and psychologically has ultimately become this generation of women’s symbol for not giving a damn about what anyone has to say about their bodies. And with that, the laces of oppression come undone and instead bolster a new sense of empowerment for women everywhere.