What Is A Corset?
Chambers Twentieth Century dictionary tells us that a corset is “a close fitting stiff inner bodice: stays: a stiff belt coming down over the hips” with a bodice being described as a close fitting inner garment.
Ancient artefacts found in Crete give us our first glimpse of the corset although doubtless women had for centuries before this had worn garments to trim up their waists and emphasize their hips to attract the opposite sex.
We know that from around 3000 BC the ancient Greeks and later the Romans were practicing tight bandaging on the bodies of young girls to encourage slimness and straight limbs as they recognized the desirability of a trim body.
