Before Spanx and Push-Up Bras: 13 Photos of 1940s-Era Corsets Will Take Your Breath Away (Literally)
Low beams, high beams
Many women would likely agree there’s a price to be paid for beauty. Then they wrestle on their first pair of Spanx and decide that if any friends really dislike them because of their back fat, they were never really friends in the first place.
Spank, push-up bras and other spandex-laden materials designed to pull us in and push us out in just the right places are great, unless your ultimate objective is to breathe or bend down. In which case they’re awful.
The thing is, they used to be way worse. Like a-southern-belle-from-another-century-who-needed-a-team-of-big-burly-men-to-sew-her-into-her-corset kind of worse.
Be happy you didn’t live in the 1940s and weren’t made to feel like you needed to wear one of these bras or corsets:
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Mirror, mirror on the wall
This angle really isn't the fairest one of all.
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My fat is right here, you say?
Thanks for pointing that out, because apparently she's the only woman on the planet who isn't acutely aware of the exact location of each of her flaws.
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Pregnant or a few pounds overweight?
What's the difference? This corset will silence anything that was once living inside you anyway.
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Conehead
Low lights, high beams.
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Before and after
More oxygen before. No oxygen after. But hey, at least you can't bend over anymore.
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One up, one down
Muuuuuuuch better.
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A few inches off your waist
A few cracked ribs. A crushed lung or two.
No matter; that's why God gave her a few of each. -
It'll cure that bulge
That frown, on the other hand, will need way more than a corset.
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T&A
Teeth and abs. What did you think it meant?
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Lose the bulge
And maybe get a new hairstylist.
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Back fat begone
If only it were that easy.
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Spirella Garment
When you care enough to harness with the very breast.
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One is right, one is wrong
But neither is optimal if breathing is ultimately the goal.
All photos used with permission from Retronaut.co
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Honestly, it looks to me like most of those are helping with proper posture and chest support. I’d pay good money for something that kept my girls that perky!
I have worn a few corsets, and the support is totally awesome, especially without the annoying itchy bits of fabric around the underwire. Now the heat, that’s a problem.
I have to wonder if you’ve ever worn or held a corset. These items aren’t all corsets. While a number of the have boning the majority are made from newly developed elastics as a turn of the century alternative to corseting. Speaking from experience these garments are not uncomfortable, and you can breathe easily while wearing them. Maybe try something before bashing it.