Forget granny's stays – corsets are red-hot

Published on Saturday 6 February 2010 11:12

GENERATIONS ago our distant female relatives were fighting their way out of them. Corsets – tight, restrictive and uncomfortable – had become a symbol of female repression, to be flung out when women were given the vote.

Finally, off went the whalebone stays that pinched in waists and crunched rib cages until they nearly snapped, and in came flappers' frocks and boyish figures. Suddenly women were able to breathe – and even tie their own shoelaces – once again.

That might have been the end of the corset but nearly a century on, they have rarely been in quite so much demand. Fashion designers love them, pop stars use them as daytime outerwear, and risqu burlesque dancers strip down to them.

Now, with the opening of Edinburgh's first specialist corset boutique, could it be that great-granny's "stays" are fighting their way out of the closet once more?

Seona Earle-Misumi opened Beautifully Boudoir in Haymarket Terrace with business partner Elizabeth Cummings earlier this week.

She believes women are embracing the corset for myriad reasons, but mostly because they simply love the way it makes them look and feel.

"Corsets these days are so much more mainstream," says Seona. "You can wear them lots of ways – they aren't underwear any more. For example, one of the most popular ways to wear them is with a pair of jeans and some heels.

"Women are looking for something special to wear that will help them look and feel sexy, something classic that they can wear time and time again, that won't go out of fashion. Corsets are perfect for that. Every wardrobe should have one."

As Seona says, today's corsets, with their delicate frills, sexy ribbons, sumptuous fabrics and twinkling crystals and sequins, are little like the agonising undergarments of torture our female ancestors might have worn.

"You certainly don't need a maid to help you get in a corset these days. There are so many different kinds of corsets that come in different styles which suit different figures.

"Old corsets didn't have an opening at the front – so you needed a hand to put them on. Now you can simply put it on yourself.

She adds: "Wear it around the house for a bit to help loosen it off. The more you wear a corset, the more the steel will shape to your own figure. Best not just throw open the door to the postman in it, though."

While a corset will shave inches off the wearer's waist – take 70-year-old American, Cathie Jung, who has a waist of just 15in thanks to her corset – they may want to ensure they've already put on their shoes first. Seona says: "My key piece of advice to someone wearing a corset is put it on after your shoes.

"It's pointless trying to bend down to do up strappy shoes when you're in your corset!"

Seona and Elizabeth opened their art deco-style shop after realising so many of their customers at their Glasgow boutique had made the journey from the east, yet the whole idea of a corset specialist boutique came about by accident, as Elizabeth explains: "We met while studying photography. We decided to open a studio where women could be proud of their curves and show off their feminine side."

And there was nothing better than a corset for flaunting their clients' feminine curves and helping them get the best shot.

"Even women who never thought they'd suit a corset find they love them.

"They make you feel so much more confident and glamorous – even if you just wear it with jeans and a little jacket, you feel great."

Edinburgh-based designer Irene Wadsworth agrees that a corset has an amazing impact on women brave enough to wear one. Her Impractical Clothes range includes a variety of corsets – there's even a khaki camouflage corset.

She says: "Corsets are fantastic items. Cut the right way, they provide this marvellous exaggerated slimming effect. Obviously the point is to pull everything in and push other bits up.

"You can add so much emphasis to the waist with a corset – everyone who tries one loves the effect."

Her corsets are created in fabrics typically used for outerwear, such as tartan and pinstripe – and her customers range from the trendy clubber to older businesswoman who wants to make an impact at black tie functions.

At Seona and Elizabeth's boutique, meanwhile, are the kinds of frillies that our female ancestors might well have swooned for. Handmade Spanish corsets trimmed with fluttery feathers in rich berry shades – exclusive in Scotland to the boutique – Marie Antoinette-style blue and white toille print, some with satin bows and pearl beads, others demure and romantic for beneath a wedding gown and some classic retro styles.

Helping to fuel the trend, adds Elizabeth, is the sensual art of burlesque.

"With the whole burlesque revival, women are now enjoying dressing to express themselves," says Elizabeth.

"Burlesque has made it far more mainstream and we find our customers are delighted to find somewhere they can buy a corset, properly fitted, that's feminine, classic and tasteful as opposed to a PVC one from a Goth-style shop.

"Corsets can be addictive," she adds.

"Once you own a corset, you will want another one."

www.beautifullyboudoir.co.uk

www.impracticalclothes.com.