AP Lingerie
Corsets
The bodice was traditionally stoutly whale boned, long and rigged, something from the days when wasp-waists were in fashion, and was fitted with gussets upon which the breasts lay.
'The tighter it was drawn, the more prominently O's breasts rose, pushed up by the supporting gussets, and the more sharply upward her nipples were tilted. At the same time her waist was constricted, her womb and buttocks were made to swell out. The odd thing is that this veritable cuirass was exceedingly comfortable and, up to a certain point, relaxing. In it, one felt very upright, but, without one being able to tell how or why unless it was by contrast, it increased one's consciousness of the freedom, or rather the availability, of the parts it left unencompassed.' Pauline Reage, The Story Of O
The corset has always been a garment with erotic connotations. In 1876 the painter Edouard Manet declared that 'the satin corset is perhaps the nude of our time.' It is impossible to say what the most appealing thing is about the corset. Is it the arched back or the slim waist? Is it the whole silhouette or simply the effect of lifting the breasts? An observer might say it is the thrill of knowing that the softness of the female body is encased or stoppered like a shaken bottle of champagne, while the wearer might enjoy the sensation of support, almost like being held very tightly. Perhaps it is the knowledge of how ultimately feminine and subsequently how ultimately powerful a woman looks when so defined. Perhaps we are moved, as we are by art or sculpture, to elevate the hourglass figure as something to be admired or revered - which is the practice of the fetishist. It might be the anticipation of the lacing and unlacing, the slow revealing of flesh, or inversely the sensation of satin, lace or leather against skin that is naturally naked. Inside the corset, the female body is strenuously guarded by a complicated system of hooks and laces, and therefore becomes that which is forbidden. What is perhaps most exciting is that while the corset guards the body, it also suggests the wearer has a calculated interest in the sensations of sex and in erotic life.
'The tighter it was drawn, the more prominently O's breasts rose, pushed up by the supporting gussets, and the more sharply upward her nipples were tilted. At the same time her waist was constricted, her womb and buttocks were made to swell out. The odd thing is that this veritable cuirass was exceedingly comfortable and, up to a certain point, relaxing. In it, one felt very upright, but, without one being able to tell how or why unless it was by contrast, it increased one's consciousness of the freedom, or rather the availability, of the parts it left unencompassed.' Pauline Reage, The Story Of O
The corset has always been a garment with erotic connotations. In 1876 the painter Edouard Manet declared that 'the satin corset is perhaps the nude of our time.' It is impossible to say what the most appealing thing is about the corset. Is it the arched back or the slim waist? Is it the whole silhouette or simply the effect of lifting the breasts? An observer might say it is the thrill of knowing that the softness of the female body is encased or stoppered like a shaken bottle of champagne, while the wearer might enjoy the sensation of support, almost like being held very tightly. Perhaps it is the knowledge of how ultimately feminine and subsequently how ultimately powerful a woman looks when so defined. Perhaps we are moved, as we are by art or sculpture, to elevate the hourglass figure as something to be admired or revered - which is the practice of the fetishist. It might be the anticipation of the lacing and unlacing, the slow revealing of flesh, or inversely the sensation of satin, lace or leather against skin that is naturally naked. Inside the corset, the female body is strenuously guarded by a complicated system of hooks and laces, and therefore becomes that which is forbidden. What is perhaps most exciting is that while the corset guards the body, it also suggests the wearer has a calculated interest in the sensations of sex and in erotic life.
