Corsets

#52Ancestors #Fashion

Even though they are evidently back in style, I can confess that I have never worn a corset. However, my grandmother wore a corset – every day. As a child, I once asked her why and she said it helped her back.

While grandma may have been wearing a corset in her later years to help her back, I doubt that is why she started wearing a corset. Like Sphinx Shapewear and corsets of today, corsets were worn to ‘shape’ the figure. A search of the Emporia, Kansas newspapers for the word corset between the years 1930 and 1950 supports the notion that a corset was a fashion ‘necessity’.

In 1939, the article “New Styles Call for Old Fashioned Corsets” promotes the need to wear a corset.

Chicago, Aug. 1 (AP) – The business of putting women back into corsets, the kind with laces and stays, came to light at the Merchandise Mart style clinic today.

There was an emphasis on bustle effects and smaller waists, posing the immediate question of how to get the smaller waist line.

“By corsets, and in some instances, of course, corsets that lace,” said Mrs. Katherine Ratto, stylist in charge of the clinic, a feature of the fall-winter wholesale apparel market.

“Hip interest,” she said is achieved by the bustle effects — bows in back, loops of material, peplum jackets or nipped-in waists.

The Emporia Gazette (Emporia, Kansas) 1 Aug 1939 page 4 on Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image/10813881/

So, where did my grandmother purchase her corsets? Since Newmans was one of my grandmother’s favorite stores, my first guess would have been Newmans.

However, Newman’s wasn’t the only clothing store selling corsets at the time. There are several ads in the newspapers indicating that Poole’s sold corsets. One of the most interesting ones is from the February 1942 paper discussing the rationing of rubber and the impact that had on the making of corsets.

In the December 1949 issue of The Emporia Weekly Gazette (Emporia, Kansas) was a short news item about the corset department at Poole’s.

Mrs. Ann Van Cleave, of Poole’s corset and lingerie department, has recieved a certificate indicating that she has recently attended and completed a prescribed training course in the fundamentals of corsetry. The course is conducted by Warner’s of Chicago.

The Emporia Weekly Gazette (Emporia, Kansas) 15 Dec 1949 on Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image/2755890/

However, the ad that appeared the most often in the search results was for a small shop on 823 West Street run by Mrs. Roe G. Collins.

My ‘corset’ search of the Emporia papers also turned up some interesting medical information regarding the wearing of corsets. The first article involved having monkeys wear corsets.

Wants Monkeys to Wear Corsets Two Full Years

Chicago (Oct. 11 (AP) – Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, physiologist and vice president of the University of Illinois wants 40 monkeys to wear corsets for two years in an experiment which may determne how grandma got her ulcers.

Dr. Ivy said he believes tight corsets, proposed for American women by Paris designers, help peptic ulcers. Research disclosed, he said, that women had more ulcers when they laced themselves tightly.

The experiment with the monkeys, estimated to cost $5,000 would establish, or disprove his belief, Dr. Ivy said, and he plans to go through with it as soon as he can find 40 monkeys, the tightest corsets and $5,000.

To prevent stripping, he’ll put the monkeys into plaster caste molded from the corsets. After two years Dr. Ivy will tell women what, if anything has happened to the monkeys’ insides.

The Emporia Gazette (Emporia, Kansas) 11 Oct 1947 on Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image/10258820/

Even though Dr. Ivy’s proposal sounds inhumane to us today, there may have been some truth to his hypothesis that corsets caused ulcers since he was quoted about the corset-ulcer issue in an article about the issue in the Oct. 1950 issue of The Emporia Gazette.

Ulcers Less Numerous When Women Discarded Tight Fitting Corsets

Palm Springs (AP) – Old-fashioned corsets went out of style and peptic ulcers among women declined says a medical expert.

Using the year 1900 as a turning point, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy said that before the turn of the century there were about three times as many peptic ulcer cases among women as among men.

Today, since the stiff stays and tight lacings have been tossed out the style window, the ratio is reversed.

Dr. Ivy, vice president of the University of Illinois, added in his lecture to a dental medicine seminar Monday that the beneficial effect of more comfortable foundations for the ladies was accompanied by a general change in the American way of life and increased tensions among men.

The Emporia Gazette (Emporia, Kansas) 17 Oct 1950 on Newspapers.com – https://www.newspapers.com/image/10723293

While I disagree with Dr. Ivy’s conclusion that the disappearance of the corset “increased tensions among men,” I do believe that wearing a corset every day would have been uncomfortable and may have impacted the body. One will never know whether my grandmother’s wearing of a corset helped her back or caused other medical issues. She was accustomed to it and continued to wear one even after styles changed.

However, I’m thankful that I live in a time period where I don’t have to don a corset.