Antique corset of the day.... an 18th Century one!!!

[laracorsets]

This one is one of my rare treasures and seriously needed to be shared. There is so little info out there on the actual 18th century stays and how they were really made. There are lots of photos for you to study if you are interested in corsets of this type.

Here she is, Antique Corset #0140:

Comments

[love_1776]

It's so hard trying to find info on stays. Even Google doesn't know what I'm talking about. "Stay put?" No, stays.

[isara]

thank you for sharing! I had to send the link along to GBACG. Too cool!

I'm perplexed by the "waist tape." My theory is that having the tape there, unattached to the front panel, would help define the shape of the body at the sides and back without losing the smooth line of the front. I've never seen that strip before in stays, but I can't think of what else it might be.

[laracorsets]

(I should preface my answer with the fact that I am not an expert on 17th or 18th cen stays and know 19th & 20th cen corsets way better than these. Yes, I do know more than most but I have so much yet to learn.)

So here is what I think about that odd little strap across the belly. It reminds me of the earlier stays where the center front of the stay was intentionally bowed out with a ridge like the front of a ship. This strap causes that effect yet only slightly and at the bottom. It is definately done deliberately. The stays I have seen that had that (although more to the extreme) were late 17th and early 18th century. I think this is the last remnant of that style of shaping. This is why I lean towards 1740-50 as possible dates for this stay.

I would love any input any of you out there have!