THE FOLLY AND WICKEDNESS OF TIGHTLACING.—III.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 15, 15 April 1893, Page 358

THE FOLLY AND WICKEDNESS OF TIGHTLACING.—III.

WHAT THE CORSET-MAKERS SAY. ONE of the leading Bond-street ebrsetieres writes : - ‘ I have had twenty years’ experience in corset-making, and I consider during the last twelve years, and especially the last five, that tight-lacing has much increased. THE SMALLEST CORSET recently made was 13 inches waist, 37 bust, 38 hips, made for a young lady of twenty-two years of age, one of the most inveterate tight-lacers t ever had for a customer. She wore these corsets, but was almost incapable of any movement or exertion when laced up in them. Am now making a pair of corsets for a young lady of about eighteen years of age, 16 inches waist, 35 inches bust, 37 inches hips. • The woven silk or wool combination now so much worn, skin-tight at the waist is very popular with my customers, and is most comfortable underwear. It would never do for a lady who wishes to lace very tightly to wear the oldfashioned separate and cumbersome garments. VERY TIGHT LACING IS INJURIOUS. both to health and figure. The essentials of A GOOD CORSET. Plenty of room in bust to allow the bosom to expand ; especially when leaning or bending forward, and when sitting, to be high and tight under the arms, shoulder blades to be well kept in, to slope well and gradually in to the waist, and to be long over both hips and abdomen. ‘ The smallest waisted corset that I have supplied for a young lady under sixteen years of age is 16 inches, bust 30, hips 31. Twelve or thirteen years of age is quite early enough to begin, but many GIRLS OF TEN OR ELEVEN ARE NOW-A-DAYS LACED UP if a very slim waist is wished.’ Tight-lacing, however, is not entirely confined to any one class, for only the other day, in Gray’s Inn Road, we saw two factory girls with waists (probably not a whit over 15 inches) which would have been the envy of many a fashionable belle. I will conclude this week with the following, which is a letter from one of the most celebrated corseticres in London upon the subject, which I have her permission to publish : —• In answer to your note, I must not give the name of the school. It was told to me as a fact that at this school tight-lacing is carried to an extreme in cruelty ; that most of the girls are from sixteen to twenty years of age, and are made to lace in as tightly as they can ; and to assist this they sleep in corsets or a broad belt with pads over the stomach, and that they draw them so tight that thev cannot bear the pressure for very long, perhaps au hour or two, and'then they are loosened and when relieved are tightened up again. I was perfectly horrified when I heard of it ; but it was told me by a country lady who had a dear friend in that school who suffered fearfully through this treatment. The lady also told me other details of the tight lacing at this school, but I have told you enough to prove to what lengths “ waist nipping ” is carried.’ Next week I shall give the medical evidence. — The Gentlewoman.