Corsets, of course, have a long history, and like other aspects of costume, speak not only of Western fashion through the ages, but of the evolution of our societies and of concepts of beauty and form.

Some fashion historians see the origins of the corset in the early sixteenth-century basquine, a tightly fitting, sleeveless bodice lined with a heavy, stiffened cloth and laced at the back; it was also known to have been reinforced with brass wire. Others see the beginnings of the corset later in the sixteenth century with the busk – a strip of boxwood, ivory or other rigid material inserted into a long, narrow pocket running down the centre–front
of the basquine.

The overall effect of the basquine and busk was a close-fitting and constricting conical bust shape for women that masked the breasts; sleeves and skirts, by contrast, were voluminous. This period of costume is aligned with the reign of Henri II of France (1547–59) and his Florentine noblewoman wife, Catherine de’ Medici, who effectively continued to rule after his death (r. 1547–99). It was a more sombre and uncertain per-
iod than that which had preceded it, marred by widespread religious tensions, civil upheaval and wars

fought along Catholic–Protestant lines that continued well into the seventeenth century, most notably with the Thirty Years War that ravaged Continental Europe from 1618 to 1648.

Fashion followed the dawning of the Age of Enlightenment in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and costume became more colourful and exuberant, eventually reaching a peak of flamboyance, in France espec-
ially, with the Rococo period of the mid-eighteenth century. The single, central busk was replac-
ed by a number of more flexible whalebone stays sewn into what had now properly become an early corset. This item was more form-fitting and, rather than masking the breasts, compress-
ed them from underneath and pushed them upward and out-
ward. At this period of their evolution, corsets were known
as stays, and they often had

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