Pair of stays - back

Pair of stays, 1760-1790. Linen with whalebone inserts.

Stays were an essential garment for any fashionable woman throughout the 1700s. The laces at the back, when pulled tight by a servant pulled in the waist and flattened the bust creating a firm upper body shape. The stays are made up of many layers and stiffened with strips of whalebone, inserted between rows of fine hand stitching.