Exploring the Origins of Today's "Corset Trend"

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Given how long they have stood the test of time and fashion, stays was indeed a worthy name!

TikTok girlies: This corset trend is totally fresh! Bernadette: Do not quote the deep magic to me, witches; I was there when it was written.

Corsets keep coming back because they look DAMN good. They can be whimsical or sexy or fancy or simple. They're gorgeous, adjustable, and just heckin neat.

A reminder that bernadette IS in fact a fashion historian and not just a couturier.

Me: a dude who works on cars for a living. Bernadette: half-hour lecture on modern corsetry. Me: ✨fascinated✨

I really love the idea that fashion has slowly become more and more about figuring out personal aesthetic. Like, trends obviously still exist, but nothing is really “out” anymore. You see a body in 1950’s and it’s just “huh, she’s a vintage gal” and then the next person is in top hats and Victorian corsets and “she’s steampunk”. There seems to be less “oh, how out of date” or what have you. It’s nice. Thank you for sharing ❤ Bernadette, it’s been as educational and lovely as I have come to appreciate

Ok, now that corsets and stays are making a comeback, can we also bring back fabulous hats? We can leave the dead birds on them in the past, but I just want some tiny hats that are also ridiculously elaborate.

I went through a Victorian Gothic phase in high school. I read the classics, Dracula, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, I even read Jane Austin books, and none of them really talk about corsets. If anyone read books that were written in the time, you’ll notice, underwear doesn’t really get mentioned much. Maybe a brief mention of a shift in a waking up scene but that’s about it. However, book that were written in modern days but takes place in the past, never shut up about corsets. I think it’s because they were never sexualized or even made to oppressed women until now.

What I don't get is people who basically say "Oh, you like historical fashion? That must mean you want to live in the past and believe in all of their problematic viewpoints!" I'm like, "No, I just like clothes and nature. Jeez."

i think the difference in silhouette has something to do with the fashionable silhouette of the time. in the early 2000s, low waisted jeans were in vogue. the longer corsets of the Victorian period did go along with the subcultures yes, but they also went along with the longer tops of that time. Now, with the staple of higher waist jeans/skirts and crop top combos, it makes sense that the corsets have adjusted their silhouettes to follow the modern trends. Longer historical corsets were more hourglass shaped, while stays were more conical and shorter, and that difference is being reflected in the modern versions.

no-one can get me to watch the whole sponsor segment like Bernadette! from film noir to the physical stunts to now the nature documentary of the guinea pigs... 😂 love it!

See, that's how you get people to stop skipping the ad reads. Guinea pigs.

The corset trend is also the number one fix for people who buy too-small dresses online and need a seamstress to make it fit!! 😂 they end up with a lace up back until the zipper can close!

I have become fed up with bras over the past decades. So now, after having watched you, and other historians building various styles of historical support garments, I finally started building my own. I'm no longer worrying about adhering to an accurate method or particular aesthetic, I'm just building what's (hopefully) practical for my body. They're more like stays, so I can wear jeans & tshirts. Second-hand chinos, dollar store needle/thread, solidified beeswax drippings to wax the thread. I ordered twill tape and synthetic boning. I have dollar store grosgrain ribbon to reinforce where I'm going to sew in eyelets for lacing. I'm hand sewing the whole thing coz I can't afford a sewing machine. I'm probably about 1/3 done. I'd've been finished by now if not for ADHD, lol

I definitely did not understand the severity of those fetishwear associations when I first started wearing a corset for pain management. People got super weird about it lol Very glad to see that corsetry is becoming more socially accepted now! By the way thank you to Bernadette for getting me into corsetry in the first place! This has been wonderful for my health!

Bernadette Banner, as of late, I've seen with the knitting community a rise in separate tie-on/attachable ornate collars so, the possibility of multiple layer ruffled, ruffs, can comeback as a trend.

(Commenting before finishing the video, playing with fire) So in asking why the stays are the current popular style and the one embraced by cottagecore over Victorian corsets, I'd add an additional theory- that Victorian corsets with their busks and steel boning and such are associated with industrialized society, which is explicitly the opposite of the vibe that cottagecore is going for. Stays are literally from a time before industrialization, before much of modern society as we know it was built, a "simpler" time. Corsets are remembered as being worn by people living in cities populated by factories and trains and all sorts of manmade technology.

I was a goth kid who made her first corset in 1998, and I definitely remember the corsetry forums and trading tips. We were making dummies out of t-shirts, duct tape, and polyfill. I learned how to pound in grommets and where to order spiral steel. Since I have dabbled a bit in historical costuming, and I absolutely love that stays have come back into fashion! I can't get used to them being worn without an undershirt or chemise-like garment, it still looks a bit wrong to me.

Another piece of their return to popularity, in my opinion, was also the return of the popularity of bare midriff / short tops with high-waist bottoms. The need for cropped tops which still provide some support was a natural fashion hole that modern stays / "corsets" could fill.