††††The corset is a form of underwear which fits tightly to make the waist and hips look slimmer.
In ancient Greece women wore a tight band of linen wound round their waist and chest. In Tudor times, both men and women pinched in their waists with corsets made either of iron or of leather and whalebone.
In the 15th century women were corseted tightly to give them 'hourglass' figures. Corsets made of stiffened fabric with whalebone, and later wire, supports continued to be fashionable in the early part of the 20th century, but in 1931, the use of zips in women's corsets for the first time made them easier to put on and take off.
Women of today are much more active than were their ancestors, so that women's clothes have become more practical and easier to wear. Corsets, if worn today, are made of lightweight, elastic fabrics which do not restrict movement.
