The Corset Question

No garment provoked more Belle Époque debate than the corset. Doctors warned about organ damage, feminists decried physical restriction, aesthetes argued for natural beauty. Yet most women continued wearing increasingly elaborate corsets achieving impossible silhouettes—the S-curve pushing bust forward and hips back.

The corset industry employed thousands of women in workshops across Paris. Corsetières like Madame Léoty and Madame Cadolle became celebrities, their creations engineering marvels of whalebone, steel, and satin. Cadolle invented the brassiere in 1889, separating bust support from waist constriction, but few initially adopted this innovation.

Working-class women wore different corsets than leisured ladies—more flexible, allowing movement. The "health corset" marketed to active women provided minimal support without extreme constriction. Yet even reformed corsets maintained the principle of reshaping female bodies to cultural ideals.

The anti-corset movement attracted diverse supporters. Dress reformers promoted "aesthetic dress" inspired by medieval and Greek models. Dr. Josephine Schultze-Naumburg lectured on corsets' medical dangers, illustrating talks with X-rays showing deformed ribcages. The feminist newspaper La Fronde regularly attacked "torture garments" enslaving women.

Yet most women resisted abandoning corsets entirely. The garments provided not just shape but support for heavy skirts and bodices. Going corsetless marked one as either aristocratic eccentric or loose woman. The corset question revealed how deeply fashion intertwined with morality, health, and women's contested autonomy.