1. "Corsets"
Posted by augusta on Oct-11th-03 at 12:32 PM

Last night on the Discovery Channel, there was a show about people who do things that hurt.  One woman wore a corset.  She was able to reduce her waist size from 25" (oh God, like that is SO fat) to 18".  They did some medical tests on her while she was wearing it.  She said she has fainted, like twice.  The heat gets her.  And her breathing doesn't come from the diaphragm but more the chest. 

They did a CT scan on her, and her organs were all mushed up together. 

I'm sitting there thinking, no wonder they didn't live too long back then. 

Hi, Augusta!  Nice to see you posting.  I have read before that the average woman of the era did not go in for the tight-lacing that this woman sounds like she was into.  It sounds incredibly painful!  I found this wonderful site that shows how to put on a corset and tighten the lacing yourself, you don't need Bridget or Emma to help.

Heres the link:  http://www.darkgarden.net/aftercare_howtowear.asp

I was reading on the site that you must loosen the laces before unhooking the busk, if you don't, the busk could break as well as the boning.  It must have taken women forever to get dressed and undressed! 

Augusta, I couldn't help but be reminded by yr post --

"Now Miss Scarlet, you done gone had a baby.  You ain't never gonna be no 18 inches again!"

Ha I was thinking of the same thing by this post, the scene
in Gone With The Wind of squeezing Scarlett into that dress..
  Lizzie and Scarlett had a lot in common, determination and minds
like a steel trap. 

Here's the scene with Hattie McDaniel.

that is priceless, thanks Harry!

Said it before, & I'll say it again --

Harry, where do you find these things?!

I did a search yesterday & couldn't find that anywhere!

I Googled! 

Go to http://www.google.com
Click Images
Type in leigh "hattie mcdaniel"  (include the quote marks)
Click Google Search

Voila!

That was an interesting website, Susan!  Thanks for sharing that.
I thought your "busk" might have been a typo for "bust" but not so.
I wonder if that's a corset made for today, or if that kind was available 'back then' so that a person could do their own. 

I think I'd be out of luck if I had to put my own together.  I can see it now - I'd have the strings all tied the wrong ways and probably end up with some good knots and be stuck in the thing until my husband came and cut me out of it.

Oh, yeah.  The Scarlett/Mammy corset scenes.  (Great picture, Harry.) I'm remembering two:  one before the barbecue:  "Now hole onto somethin' an' suck in yer breaf!" and the after-Bonnie's-birth-bitchin'.  In the book, I think Scarlett's waist was 16" - "the smallest in three counties".  What'd they do, have a waist contest at the county fairs? 

I wonder if someone's waist around 1860 really was 16".  People were  smaller then.

I don't think Lizzie wore one.  (Seems like we talked about that possibility before...)

Yes, I think that corset they showed was a remake of what was available at the time.  The busk is that portion in the front of the corset where the closures are, the metal button and loop things.  I believe the name came from when corsets were first invented, they didn't have much boning in them, but, did have a piece of carved wood that was slipped down in the front laces between your breasts, it was called a busk.  It made for super posture I'm sure! 

Is that really an 18" waist? Anyone with a ruler?
Compare circumference of head/forehead to waist.

From what I've read the corsets were indeed very very tight - hence the need for the "fainting couch" - something like a chaise longue (lounge) of sorts. There's a lot to be said for levis and tees