Corsets

Left to right:
Corset (girdle) / Elastic net, stretch acetate satin, nylon netting, ribbon, boning / USA, c.1952 / Gift of Katherine Torricelli / 83.114.2

Merry Widow / Warner’s / Lycra, nylon, elastic, polyester, metal / USA, c. 1960 / Lent by Warnaco Inc.
According to the label, this Red Pepper Merry Widow was made of “Dupont Lycra, Warner’s new miracle in shape-making.” Lycra® is the trade name for spandex, a synthetic rubber developed by DuPont in 1958. The garment has a 34B cup, a waist of 25 inches, and 34-inch hips.

Corset / Gossard / Rayon, acetate satin, lace, elastic net / USA, 1947 / Gift of Stephanie Farrar / 86.99.1
Christian Dior’s “New Look” of 1947 launched a new vogue for structured girdles and corsets, often referred to as “Merry Widows” or “Waspies.” According to Dior, “There can be no fashion without foundations.”

Corset / “Youth” by Warner’s / Nylon, cotton, lace, elastic net / USA, c. 1930s / Lent by Warnaco Inc.
Curves began to return in the 1930s, but the ideal silhouette was still slender and sinuous. In 1939, more structured corsets briefly returned to fashion. Although the “wasp-waisted” figure was back, “the modern woman puts up with no tortures, not while ‘Lastex’ yarn still gives,” declared Vogue. “There might be a little lacing and a little boning, but elasticized materials “ease you gently and comfortably into the silhouette that used to be achieved with a coat of armour.”

Corselet / Warner’s / Cotton jacquard, elastic, whalebone, metal / USA, 1924 / Lent by Warnaco Inc.
During the 1920s, the fashionable figure was slim and youthful with small breasts. The heroine of one novel, for example, was described as having “a rounded slenderness... flexible and tubular, like a section of a boa constrictor.” This foundation garment flattened the wearer’s bust.