Steel corset

metal corset

A front opening metal corset from 1550 Italy

Metal corset (also known as iron corset) is historical type of corset made mostly or entirely out of metal, usually iron. By the start of the 16th century, Spanish fashions influenced Italian and English ladies. An iron hinged armour like corset was worn to flatten the body giving a smooth outline beneath gowns. The iron corset must have been exceptionally uncomfortable and heavy to wear and could only have been worn by Elizabethan ladies not doing any form of heavy work. Their only benefit…

Corset Unknown Artist / Maker4 France Date:c. 1640 Medium:Steel Diameter:56.7 cm, waist Weight:1.54 kg via the Wallace Collection

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The text underneath says: ‘Beginning of the sixteenth century. Two specimens of iron corsets, probably of foreigh origin or designed for difficult or deformed figures. “Whaleboned bodys…