History of the Elizabethan Corset

The origins of what we nowadays call a corset are shrouded in mystery. Noone is certain exactly where they originated from. The corset's shape and sillouhete and even its purpose have evolved drastically over the last 400 years.
Some people, on the evidence of one stone carving of a gargole which exhibits boning-like vertical lines, believe that corsetry began around 1200. Unfortunately, this evidence is singular and unrepeated by anything else of the time period; no painting, carving, or written work contains reference to such a garment. Until the late 15th century, all body shaping had been accomplished by seam placement and tight lacing, which was responsible for the monobosom effect of the french cotehardies and renaissance gowns. At most, there was some form of stiffening on either side of the laces to keep the seam straight.(see picture to the right).
The first intimation of any corset-like garment first appeared at the end of the 15th century in the wide, constricting belts--a sort of "corset" in themselves--that were common in the latter half of the 15th century. These belts were worn just underneat h the bust, and were on average 4 to 6 inches wide; even allowing for artistic license, the amount of constriction they applied to the waist would necessetate some form of reinforcement or stiffening.
Two pictures in particular demonstrate the stiffness of these belts: The picture of Mary of Burgundy in the Book of Hours by the Master of Mary of Burgundy painted in the 1460s, where she sits reading by a large window; and the dress of Lady Donne in Hans Memlinc's 'Donne Triptich' painted in the late 1470s.(see picture to the left)
Both of these women are wearing wider-than-average belts, which reach from the waist to just below the bust, and which exhibit a stiffening more than tight lacing and fashionable portraiture would account for. The latter picture also shows a woman behind Lady Donne, wearing a tightly laced cotehardie every bit as tight as the Lady's, and small wrinkles are apparent in the fabric of the dress that Lady Donne's belt lacks.
As the 15th century gave way to the sixteenth, the sillouhete and "ideal" shape began to change, both for men and for women. Rather than emphasizing the elongation of the human form, male garments began to broaden and gain in bulk to present a squarer, more massive appearance. Female garments soon began to do the same. The waistling lowered from below the bust to the natural waist, and the V-shaped neckline broadened out into a square shape. Sleeves broadened as well, becoming puffed and bell-shaped, and skirts became more massive. Bulk became more important than drape. A perfect example of this "bulky" look can be found in the famous portrait of King Henry as he stands, hands on his hips, looking more than wide enough to fill a doorway.
It is at this time that the corset, or "pair of bodies" as it is properly called, makes its first definite appearance. In a painting dated to 1495, Jeanne de Bourbon-Vendome displays a perfect example of the new emerging form which is to dominate the next century: her torso is flat and cylindrical, with only the merest suggestion of a curve at the bust; the neckline is horizontal and exceedingly broad, and both sleeves and skirt are more bulky than was popular in the previous decades.
Whether or not she's wearing a corset is open to debate. The flat, smooth torso may simply be an artist's ideal rather than an accurate description of her costume. In either case, the stiff, flat and cylindrical torso was the ideal which was pursued for most of the next 100 years. And it is to this end that the pair of bodies was used.
As the 16th century progressed, portraits and drawings of the time exhibit a sillouhete impossible to achieve without the support of a constricting and shaping undergarment beneath it. Holbein sketched several pictures of women wearing substantailly stiffened bodices. (see picture to the right). As the century progressed, more and more portraits of women exhibited the unmistakable signs of corsetry. For a look at a spectrum of tudor and elizabethan sillouhetes, visit the Elizebethan Costume Gallery to follow the evolution of the 16th century female form.
Soon, literary evidence became available as well; Mary Tudor has listed in her wardrobe accounts one "pair of bodies" made of crimson satin.
Unfortunately, no material evidence remains of an early 16th century corset. It is assumed that it was strapless, as the armpit-to-armpit neckline and shoulder-hugging sleeves would preclude shoulder straps. Noone knows what was used to stiffen these early pairs of bodies: glue-stiffened fabric, reeds, cane, whalebone and stiff rope are all valid possibilities. Whether or not these early corsets had tabs, square pieces of fabric spreading out at the waist to support the skirts, is also unknown.
The first real, concrete evidence of a corset is the pair of bodies ( the period term for a corset) worn by the Pfaltzgrafin Maria, shown in detail in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620 (see photo to the left). This garment is made of two layers of cream-colored fabric, the outer silk and the inner lining of satin, and has channels stitched between the two layers into which reeds were inserted. It has tabs at the waist, as well as small eyelets at the waistline through which the farthingale, or stiffened hoop skirt, could be fastened to the corset. It also had straps going over the shoulder. It has a pocket sewn down the middle front for a wooden or ivory busk to be slipped into. The armholes are rather far back, as are the armholes of most garments of the time. A stiff, upright, and what modern people would call unnaturally rigid posture was considered a mark of good breeding.
This was a german corset, and therefore cannot be considered an example of English Elizabethan fashion; nevertheless, it is the earliest surviving corset here today.
The busk which would have been slipped into the busk pocket, was a long, flat piece of ivory or wood, often elaborately carved, which helped to give a pair of bodies a rigid, smooth shape. It was often tied into place by a busc-lace to keep it from shift ing up or down. The busc-lace was considered an intimate favor, given by women to the men they loved--and is, ironically enough, the ancient ancestor of the tiny bow found on the front of many modern bras.
As the century progressed, the pair of bodies evolved. One of the most significant changes was the evolution of the waist tabs; from flat pieces of fabric sewn into the waistline, the tabs gradually acquired boning and changed into finger-like extensions of the corset itself. This accompanied--and perhaps precipitated--a lengthening of the corset busk and of the line of the bodice, so that many late 16th century women appear to have astonishingly long torsos. The neckline changed from a square shape to a more rounded one, and the straps moved farther and farther apart until they sat at the edges of the shoulders. The corset worn by the effigy of Queen Elizabeth, stiffened with reeds, had both boned tabs and a wide, scooped neck, hinting at the shape that the corset would take in the 17th century.
One picture does exist of a late period corset, painted in 1600. A woman is painted en deshabille, with her front lacing corset showing underneath an embroidered jacket. The stiffening looks to be reeds of some kind. The tabs are gathered to the bottom of the corset, which is considerably lower than that of the photo previously shown, reflecting the increasing length of bodices which occured in the last decade of the 16th century.
During the 16th century, corsets were usually made out of linen or, in the case of nobility, silk outer layers and linen inner layers. Whalebone and reeds were the most commonly used materials for stiffening the pair of bodies. Although rarely seen, the pair of bodies wasn't always plain; Mary Tudor had a crimson pair of bodies and farthingale. The boning was slipped into channels between the two layers, which were backstitched for reinforcement. They laced at the center back or side back, through eyele ts reinforced with a button stitch.
To find pictures of 16th century Elizabethan corsets, the best resource is Nora Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines. You can also look through Janet Arnold's two books Patterns of Fashion 1560 to 1620 and Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unloc k'd. For more information on Elizabethan costuming, check out the books in the Elizabethan Costume Page