The Corset and the Crinoline

Book excerpt: Ever since Eve's first blush, clothes have girded, graced and transformed the female physique. Fascinating and insightful, The Corset and the Crinoline is an illustrated history of clothing's attendant underpinnings—especially those that whittled the female waist to its most slender proportions. Reproduced from a rare 1868 fashion publication, each page reveals how the use of wood, whalebone, steel, hoops, and tight laces had a gripping influence on shaping the figures of women from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Vienna. Enlivened by excerpts from authentic letters, magazine articles, and satiric poems, over fifty exquisite black-and-white engravings highlight the wardrobes—and what was worn underneath them—of a Persian dancing girl, an ancient Egyptian woman, a Roman lady of high rank, Queen Elizabeth, Marie de Medici, a woman of the French revolutionary period, and many more. Costume designers, artists, and anyone interested in the history of fashion will be captivated!