Personal preference aside, American society believes breasts should look a certain way. They should be smooth, separated, perky half-spheres that ignore gravity and have no visible nipples, else people perceive them as looking vulgar, obvious, or strange. But this preference for the gravity-defying, no-nipple look hasn’t always existed. The first part of this series examined the changing ideals of breast shape in America, from the 1920s to the 1950s. The second part continues […]
In corsetry, there are certain standards that are widely accepted or even assumed, either tacitly or overtly. Examples of this might include the old “20 bones” minimum, multi-layer coutil construction, the idea of “seasoning,” and vocabulary such as “bespoke.” How did these standards come to be? In a market that is simultaneously niche and diverse, who is the arbiter of such things? And with so many novel corsetry concepts, from […]
Cosabella has recently launched a gorgeous new expanded version of their bestselling line — with the label of “extended sizes” instead of plus sizes. This wording isn’t unique to Cosabella. With the campaigns like #droptheplus gaining popularity among consumers, lingerie brands and boutiques are looking for terms that go over better with customers than “plus size.” Cosabella uses “extended” in much the same way everyone else does: for bras […]
The corsetmaking community, in my experience, strives to be very inclusive. In making a product that is both intimate and highly customized, corsetmakers work with not just a full range of body sizes and shapes, but also a diverse array of gender and sexual identities. A corset has the potential to be a powerful garment for a trans woman. A corset’s advantages lie most obviously in its physical effects, by […]
Women with fuller figures are often taught to feel like we should compensate for the fact that our bodies are bigger. There is a very narrow idea of what an “acceptable” plus size body looks like, so many of us are proud of our thin legs, our round butts or our big breasts, and often feel as if they’re our redeeming qualities, to “make up” for the rest of our […]
