‘S’ Bend Corset V Empire Revivalism in 1900-1910

I’ve decided to take an interest in ‘S’ bend corsets and compare them to the Empire revivalism which changed the shape of women’s silhouettes completely as I found this most interesting when learning about the fashion between 1900-1910.

The ‘S’ bend corset was in high fashion from 1901-1910, the most extreme types of these corsets were worn around 1904-1905 which constricted the organs and the lungs of women often causing them to faint and would restrict their breathing. These types of corsets were known as “the most dangerous style to wear.” –Marion McNealy (The S Bend in Context). This type of corset would also be called the ‘Gibson Girl’ as they were idolised as having the perfect S bend silhouette. Women’s bodies completely changed after wearing these corsets for a prolonged period of time, their abdomen was pushed back, the breasts were pushed forward and the back was arched. In my opinion, the whole idea of the ‘S’ shape silhouette was influenced by male opinion as the ideal of the female figure is an hour-glass shape which the ‘S’ shape corset achieved. By learning about the corsetry, I feel that women were very restricted and were not given a life that they could enjoy as beauty would take over by male influence.

By researching about the ‘S’ bend corset, I have found a certain element that I like about the corset, I feel that the silhouette that was achieved from wearing the corset was beautiful but on the contrary, the pain and suffering that women had to withstand to create these figures was appalling. I think my final thought about the corset is that it is awful because of the way that women had to cope with restricted breathing and ill health.

When researching into the period of 1900-1910, I also found that there was another movement in fashion called the empire revivalism which brought less tightly-laced corsetry into tact and also, relieved women of their restrictions of being a certain silhouette to look beautiful. It also shattered the idea of women being incapable of performing tasks as now there was more movement for women and more freedom.

My comparison between the ‘S’ bend corset and the empire revivalism eras is that both were extremely different but both gave beautiful bodily figures to the women. The main differences are the health problems of the ‘S’ bend corset compared to the empire revivalism, I feel that women gained more of a life to live when the empire revivalism was introduced as they were given a lot more freedom and more rights for themselves. Also I feel that when the empire movement was introduced, the men had less control over what women wore and less control over women altogether.

I have decided to pick Jean Paul Gaultier as my designer as he has previously designed a range of corsets that were inspired by Victorian corsetry but had a modernistic look.

The Materials that seem to be used in this garment may be a type of metal to hold the structure of the piece. I see this piece to be more of an artist statement rather than a fashion garment as it makes a statement and is definitely only to be worn on the catwalk.

I love the colours that Gaultier has used in this garment as they relate to the modernistic elements but also, the structured form stays with the inspiration of the Victorian corsetry.