Thoughts about waist training and the hourglass figure today.

Paul · Aug 13, 2006

I know their is a small group of ladies who practice the art of waist training with traditional corsets today for the perfect hour glass waist.

What I have read the only thing they all have in common is that if they go out in pubic showing off a 20" or less waist them they get a very mixed reception these days more on the negative side than positive.
I realize that this is a earlier period than most ladies like, if you have any thoughts about the true Victorian hour glass figure in to days society.
Do you like or hate it?

RetroModelSari · Aug 13, 2006

Hi Paul!

Well, I personally LOVE corsets, I just can¬¥t effort more than my waist corset. When it comes to waists I think a corseted waist looks pretty as long as the girl doesn¬¥t look like she¬¥s breaking through in the middle. I¬¥ve seen women in TV that make me shiver in fear. But 10 - 15 cm off or maybe even 20 cm off highest look very pretty!

Hugs,
Sari

Lady Day · Aug 13, 2006

I plan on doing waste training in the future, but I am doing it for more of a contured naturalistic hourglass shape, not to push my organs up into my chest

We all know that many forms of 'beauty' that were practiced back in the day were very painful, and that is not unlike today with all the high tech forms of body modification. What kills me is that a fece lift is alright, while corset training is labled a sexest practice. I think corset training is FAR less intrusive, and your body can return to normal after a time it is stopped.

LD

LaMedicine · Aug 13, 2006

Ummm....done to the extreme, I'd hate to imagine what's happening to the innards of the particular lady.

I mean it, the various organs will be displaced severely and not healthy to say the least.

Depending on the original statureof the lady, 20" may be a bit on the extreme side. 22" if you are small. 24" would be perfectly fine if you are tall.

maisie · Aug 13, 2006

I think there is one lady who has got the smallest waist in the world or something, and is in the Guiness Book of Records. She has a waist of about 15" or something mad!!
I think that acutally having a waist is something that looks really femine, and looks especially good in 40's/50's clothes!!
Does any one remember in Gone With The Wind when Scarlett had a 18 1/2 waist before she had a child then she was ashamed of having a 20" after and was trying to get it back to how it was before!

Paul · Aug 13, 2006

Yes Cathie Jung's (15")http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=54595

My opinion is much the same as the above views, I do not think going down to a extremely small waist size is not particularly flattering and I have sometime got the impression that it is done more for the desire or challenge to be able to go down to that size than to have a nice looking figure,
I know this depends upon the persons frame I do think their is noting wrong with a lady wearing a corset which reduces here waist by 3 or 4 inches, with the right cloths which shows off her waist look very good. What I do not like is the modern way of wearing a corset outside and without lacing it tight.
I think if a corset is worn at all then it should be done so for the traditional reasons and in the same way.
Not that I am advocating every one to go back to wearing corsets, if by choose you do so then I am in favour of it.

Rosie · Aug 13, 2006

I bought a corset not long ago with the thought of doing some light waist training. As I am a big girl anyway, there isn't any way I'm going to get down to a tiny waist, nor am I looking to. Wearing one to create a more defined waist to me, is fine. Getting to the point where organs are rearranged, isn't something I am interested in.

Caledonia · Aug 13, 2006

I've been wondering what waist training was, and I think I'm getting the idea. Oof, not for me. My waist training will consist of plenty of crunches and the like, topped of with a bit of light corsetting or waist cinching on an occasional basis. But forcing my waist into another shape on a semi-permanent basis sounds too much. There is something visually delightful about a small waist, but I don't think you need to go down more than 2 or 3 inches past your normal waist to create the effect, which I think is what LaMedicine is very rightly suggesting. Any smaller and I think the resultant swooning might make life a tad difficult.

Viola · Aug 13, 2006

Yeah I'll take walks in the woods and some light dancing (has to be light out of consideration for my partner's trampled feet

) and even dreaded dieting over having to wear something that heavy and restrictive all the time.

I'm not sure waists smaller than 25 inches even look that great, especially if you don't even have a tight tummy when you "take it all off."

Its a Jello mold for your muffin top!

lol

Tourbillion · Aug 13, 2006

I like corsets, and have never got worse than a "does that hurt?" when I wear them in public. This is even when I wore a 21" corset laced closed (and I am NOT a small person--6' tall and about a 28" or 29" waist at the time).

Mostly I have been wearing corsets under clothing to Victorian balls lately. Also since I gained weight, no more than 4" inches off the figure. Plus it is easier to dance when you are NOT laced 6" smaller.

I also wore a 20's corset girdle last night to the Seaside Ball, no problems at all there, but then, it isn't tight in the waist at all.

When I wear a corset under a modern gown today, I get really odd reactions. My friend Seth took to squeezing my waist and was Ha! I knew something was going on! (I was wearing a corset under a ladies tuxedo jacket). My friend Cammie was "envious" until she found out it was a corset.

My next corset project is to make a 40's new look dress w/corset, so that I can actually look a little bit like the sketches for a change. I won't need the hip pads, however, I have natural ones...

LizzieMaine · Aug 13, 2006

I experimented with corsets in my twenties -- and managed cinch myself down to a 25 inch waist without excruciating discomfort. But it didn't look right -- I have a relatively wide ribcage, so I couldn't really get that gracefully-inverted-triangle effect that's the ideal example of the wasp-waisted look. It looked peculiar rather than especially attractive, so I gave up on the idea.

Nowadays, being middle-aged and all, any thoughts of ever being a 25 inch waist again are long-lost dreams. I wear a girdle every day not for a fashion statement, but because I need it to hold in my sad fortysomething belly. And I'm happy when I can squeeze myself down to a 30.

Caledonia · Aug 13, 2006

Tourbillion, you must tell us how you get on with the New Look integral corsetting. I'd really like to try a suit or dress like that someday. You're very brave doing 6 inches at all, ever!

I've got the same ribcage problem as Lizzie, so going small would look odd anyway unless I took out a rib or two.

Paul · Aug 14, 2006

Tourbillion said:
.I also wore a 20's corset girdle last night to the Seaside Ball, no problems at all there, but then, it isn't tight in the waist at all.

It's interesting to here you speak and are wearing the 20's style of corset/girdle as it so often wrongly reported that these were not worn and it took me a while to figure out that if you had worn corset for years you could not stop wearing them, and that they had changed into a more girdle garment with less boning and slight longer.
as I am fascinated by the 20's often wonder what they are like on.
While I very much like the 20's fashions for many reasons, I do think the silhouette did leave a lot to be desired and was not particular feminine.
The New look in my view is when the feminine silhouette returns, another period which I find fascinating from a style perspective, I no idea in these photos ( below) if the lady has been chosen because she is naturally small waist or is wearing a corset, I would like to think that she is wearing a corset type foundation to archive this.

What I like about these:-

For me these are two fabulous outfits and show a more modern but yet still very feminine silhouette l like (a) for how the dress skirt is very full flowing from the small waist over her hips, yet (b) the suite had a narrow waist complemented by the fitted jacket, and the length of the pencil skirt down to mid calf.
I would like to see these styles worn more today and if a lady had to wear a lightly laced corset from modern material that would be a price worth paying for her.

Daisy Buchanan · Aug 14, 2006

maisie said:
I think there is one lady who has got the smallest waist in the world or something, and is in the Guiness Book of Records. She has a waist of about 15" or something mad!!
I think that acutally having a waist is something that looks really femine, and looks especially good in 40's/50's clothes!!
Does any one remember in Gone With The Wind when Scarlett had a 18 1/2 waist before she had a child then she was ashamed of having a 20" after and was trying to get it back to how it was before!

I was watching this a few weeks ago, and remember cringing when Scarlett said this. Well, I know she was a vapid horrible person, but I found this scene terribly troubling.

As for my own opinion about corseting, do what you want to do. I don't particularly want to do it, but if others want to, it's their perogative. It's not like the old day's when woman felt forced into doing such things. I, personally, can't wear one. I have enough problems with my insides, I don't need to mess them up anymore. Although I am missing some major organs, so maybe I'd really be able to cinch down to low, get myself in the book of world records!
I really like the hourglass figure look. It is especially good for the 30's and 40's styles. But, like Caledonia, I think that there are many other ways to get this look.

jitterbugdoll · Aug 14, 2006

I don't waist train, but I do wear a variety of vintage waist cinchers, merry widows, and girdles, all of which trim the waist down. My natural waist is 25 inches, and when I get back into shape again, it goes down to 24 inches quite easily. One on my 1960s merry widows trims a good two inches off my waist and gives a very Victorian/waist trained look. It's not at all uncomfortable, and it even has the benefit of keeping you from overindulging (which is one reason that corset training helps the wearer lose weight.)

Miss Dottie · Aug 14, 2006

In San Francisco, there is a wonderful designer named Autumn Adamme and she has a shop called Dark Gardens where they make these gorgeous customized corsets that feel great on. Because she takes more than a dozen measurements to make sure that the corset fits your body perfectly, it doesn't get the organs as wonky as say one not tailored to your body that you might just walk into a store and buy. And they actually feel quite nice on. Not gasping-for-breath awful--more like a good hug and do create a lovely silhouette too.

Some of her clients do wear it for waist training I'm sure but many just use them as great undergarments. As a chesty girl, it's the best way to wear anything even remotely halter/strapless.

But I'm still trying to train my waist the more modern way with sit-ups and spinning classes. Oof!

Caledonia · Aug 14, 2006

Paul said:
The New look in my view is when the feminine silhouette returns, another period which I find fascinating from a style perspective, I no idea in these photos ( below) if the lady has been chosen because she is naturally small waist or is wearing a corset, I would like to think that she is wearing a corset type foundation to archive this.
QUOTE]

The lady on the right in the suit looks very slim to start with, but the suit she is wearing is doing the hourglass bit for her. The New Look from 48 and into the early 50s included built in "corsetry" to the dresses, jackets, and coats. The insides were stiffened and held in place, and the placket (that bit from the waist to jacket bottom) was moulded out into the hourglass shape, held into place by the stiffening material and in some cases boning. Very becoming I think. The ladies on the left look more likely to be wearing girdles or cinchers.

colleency · Aug 14, 2006

Paul said:
It's interesting to here you speak and are wearing the 20's style of corset/girdle as it so often wrongly reported that these were not worn and it took me a while to figure out that if you had worn corset for years you could not stop wearing them, and that they had changed into a more girdle garment with less boning and slight longer.

What's usually reported in fashion is what the young, wealthy, cutting age set are doing. In the 20's that group wasn't really wearing corsetry; they were mostly wearing camisols and loose tap pants.

Anyone that had a large bust or was poor or was over their mid-twenties was probably wearing an older style of foundation garment: a corset.

Paisley · Aug 14, 2006

"Waist training"? Not for me. I do weight training, as well as eat a good diet and get aerobic exercise. It produces a trim, athletic figure, which is fine with me.

AllaboutEve · Aug 14, 2006

I watched an interesting tv show about 40's and 50's style not long ago, they had a woman on who had modelled the "New Look" clothing when it first came out. They showed pictures of her in clothes that had tiny little waists.
She said that during her photo shoots she hardly dare eat at all and passed out regularly due to the restrictive nature of the clothing.

I think that tiny waists look great but I would never go to that extreme.

I have a normal waist of 26" and can go to about 24" with my Berlei girdle, the added bonus of this wonderful contraption is that it is very supportive of my lower back!!!! I love the way girdles smooth out all your curves and give you added va va voom!!!!lol

Thoughts about waist training and the hourglass figure today.

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