- Bras haven't been around since the dawn of humans wearing clothes. And if you are a regular
viewer of this channel, you will know full well by now that far from being the oppressive, destructive symbol of patriarchy that the later 20th century
insists on pinning to it, the 19th century corset
was the unassuming, supportive, foundational
garment proceeding the bras that we've adopted today. So it stands to reason that
before there were bras, and special separately sold sport bras designed for the express purpose of facilitating athletic activity, there were specially
designed sport corsets. These vary widely in style, shape, material, and construction, each advertising different
new and innovative features to facilitate ease of movement
and to support the wearer, including the addition of elastic, cording, and lightweight, flexible bones. So when I was browsing
the internet one fine day and stumbled upon a garment that by appearance and description, like basically looked like a corset sold by a modern day, big
name, athletic wear company, needless to say my interest was piqued. You've seen me take on the trials of everyday life in a Victorian corset and the spinal brace I grew up in-- the modern fashion corset
edition is still forthcoming-- but how does a modern sport corset, presumably built to
facilitate movement, compare? It's time for an experiment. (whimsical music) (cronchy plastic packaging ripping open) So it definitely is in the shape of some sort of boned garment. There are four bones at the front. You know, it's really funny. These feel really, I
think it might be plastic, but it's such a lightweight,
flexible plastic that it almost feels
like the sort of bones that you would feel in a
late 19th century corset. They are a bit thicker than what you would see
in Victorian corsets, but the flexibility of them is quite good. This is a little deceptive
because this is branding. There is actually no boning at the sides. Historically inaccurately, this closes with the zipper in the back, but like, it's not trying to be a historically
accurate corset obviously. There's no boning and no
stiffening whatsoever in the back. It's just the zipper down center back and then two unboned seams, which would not have been a thing probably in 19th century sports corsetry. There probably would have been some sort of back support happening, especially if it is
laced with eyelet holes you would need some sort of stiffening to go at the edge of the eyelet holes so that the whole corset
doesn't pull out of shape when you try and tighten it. This is a single layer corset. So yes, this could be a thing
in 19th century corsetry, some were single layers. These would often have
the bones on the outside, as you may have seen me do my own 19th century corset endeavors. They don't have to worry
about raw seam allowance on the inside because they have sergers. This raw edge would probably be an issue if you were making a tight worn garment, you would not wanna have a
raw edge on the inside here. So they would, if you're
making a single layer corset, you would put the raw edge to the outside and then put your boning
channel over top of that same so it's finished. The primary thing that
concerns me with this is that it is single layer but the single layer that they've used does not have a significant
amount of body to it. I don't imagine this is
going to be very supportive. I a little bit suspect
that this is not meant to actually be a supportive
sportswear garment but is meant as sort of a
athletic style fashion accessory. But of course we will do some analyzing and figure that out for ourselves. The one thing that really
does impress me about this is they've got little
stitching reinforcement down at the top and bottom of the bones. Obviously this is not as pretty as Victorian flossing techniques, which sort of thread reinforcements at the top and the bottom of
the bones to prevent the bones from sliding through the
binding and poking out. This is not a thing that you know unless you know a thing
about boned garments. So whoever designed this and
whoever sort of put together the engineering techniques for this, did look at historical corsetry. They do understand the mechanics
of how boned garments work. So I do appreciate that. This kind of vaguely resembles in shape a bust bodice actually I won't say it is a bust
bodice rather than a corset because the bust bodices
that I've seen all tend to have a horizontal
bits going out the front. And the purpose of them
is to build out a shape. I have not seen a 19th century
corset that is this shape. It looks like it comes up
all the way over the bust which is what a bust bodice does because a bust bodice is
meant to build out bust shape. But 19th century corsets
sort of either stopped at the middle of the bust as
like normal corsets would. Athletic corsets could
sometimes go even lower and would just almost sort
of be like a waist cinch. Maybe this isn't going
for 19th century corsetry. Maybe this is actually going for a 16th century Tudor kirtle. Let's put this on and
let's see what this does. It's kind of nice, I don't hate it. It's an interesting little thing. It's definitely comfortable. There's definitely a
lot of movement in it. So my initial reaction is
obviously it's very breathable because it's made of stretch
elastane or something. So there's absolutely
none of that sort of, as I was talking about in my
previous corset trial video, how you sort of have
to learn how to breathe in a different way when you wear a corset, because this part is usually held in one sort of circumference. There's none of that because this is stretchable,
breathable fabric. It's very flexible, it's stretch. The bones are only in the front here, but they're really soft,
and they're really flexible. There is really no
support in this garment. Like I would not wear this as
a supportive midriff garment for physical activity. Like this is not replacing
a sports bra, basically. It doesn't have any waist reduction because there's no boning
at the sides, obviously. So I'm thinking this is more
just like an ~aesthetic~ thing. It doesn't really have
much practical function but it's definitely comfortable. Let us go do some physical activity. Now, here's the thing in
that it is our year 2020, and gyms aren't exactly a thing. So I am not going to be doing any sort of that kind of physical activity. However, I am moving. And if you have ever moved house before, you will understand that moving is a workout in and of itself. So let us go pack some boxes,
move some heavy stuff around and we have a little adventure
to take this afternoon which will involve quite
a lot of moving stuff. Let's see how this holds up. Historically, the sport
or athletic corset, as it's called in contemporary
sources by the late 1890s, begins to appear in mentions within magazines and advertisements in the second half of the 19th century, beginning its life specifically as a riding corset in the middle decades before evolving into the
cycling corset by the 1890s, in response to the popularization
of women's cycling. By the turn of the 20th century,
it begins to be referred to as the more general "athletic corset" in what is likely a subtle signifier of the broadening variety of sports commonly practiced amongst
women during these times: tennis, golf, swimming,
and of course cycling, being amongst the most popular. But after looking at some extant examples and reading up on all the
fancy features offered by these sport corsets, I was most amused to find that there really
is no one defining style. And in fact, many of the corsets marketed as sporting corsets outright
contradict in design features. Some are described to have
material covering the hips despite shortened boning,
while others boast having no material whatsoever on the hips. Some have straps, some are strapless, some close with lacing in the back, some with buttons at the front, some have similar boning structures to typical late 19th, early
20th century everyday corsets. And some are very minimally boned. There was even the Khiva Corselet. The Symington Collection notes that this was specifically meant to be worn over another corset, but with the bust line rising higher than the more waist-cinch-like
riding corset, and the boning on the Khiva
Corselet only in the bust, not extending down into the waist, as well as the addition of straps. I think this particular model was meant to be worn more specifically
for bust support, kind of like a sports bra. The advertisements all
seem to agree on one thing, that the athletic corset must give support without causing pressure
or limiting movement. The manner of achieving that, much like the nuanced
intricacies of each human body, seems to have a wide
range of possibilities. One thing I was really
surprised by in my research is just how relatively few mentions of sports corsets I was able to find in journals and magazines from the time. And of course, how few extant examples of sports corsets survive in comparison to the
number of everyday corsets that are advertised and that do survive. I'm rather suspiciously led to believe that the sport corset, while perhaps offering a few novel perks, wasn't actually strictly necessary due to the already pretty
practical construction of the everyday corset. By the late 19th century,
everyday corsetry had had centuries of
development and innovation, such that only minimal boning, and very flexible boning at that, was all that was really needed to provide a completely
supportive, yet comfortable shape. A lot of the shaping
in corsets by this time was done through strategic pattern cutting and soft structuring, such as cording. And a particularly
heightened cultural interest in health, physical wellness, and of course, in rational dress, meant that the practices of tight lacing in everyday dress were
more generally discouraged while of course comfort was promoted. Furthermore, working
women had been conducting arguably more strenuous physical activity in everyday corsetry for centuries, without the assistance
of fancy elastic straps or a strategically shortened
length, with no reported issue. So it was the sport corset
as necessarily ubiquitous as something like the
sports bra is to us today? I don't actually think so. Did they exist? Were they advertised, were they
purchased and were they used at least by a relatively
substantial portion of at least a certain
class of the population? I think, yes. (bright music) Moving the stuff is going well. This thing is an
interesting little garment. You know what? It kind of just feels like a snug top. I will say it's not supportive. It's not bracing, I guess. So a lot of people actually prefer to wear some sort of corset
structure around their waist when they have to move
large, heavy things. I know I certainly really
enjoyed wearing my medical brace when I had to move lots of heavy items around the
city when I was working. This does not do that at all. There's a little bit of
structure in the front which is kind of nice. But as you know, if you've
lifted anything in your life, the back muscles which are vulnerable to injury when lifting stuff, which is why we wear
supports, if we so choose, and it doesn't have any
boning at the sides either. So this is not exactly
conducive for support whilst doing core exertion. I have to say it's kind of
not really doing anything. I don't really know that it's there, neither in a good nor a bad way. It's not impeding with my movement, it's not impeding with
the physical exertions that I have to do. However, it's also not providing any of the benefit that you would get from wearing a strategically
constructed corset which is specifically designed
for physical activity. If I'm going to wear a corset
to do something exertive, I'm going to wear something with a bit more back support probably. I have a lot of bags of things that have to go out to the
charity shop for a donation. So that is something that I'm going to take care of this afternoon. We will have a little
bit of outdoor adventures and see how this holds up. In the outside world, I don't suspect it will be any different. But first I'm going to have some lunch and then we shall go. All right, now, since
we cannot be going out in our shimmies as in corsets, I've just put a top on over this. It doesn't look terribly different. Obviously again, like
it's not doing anything for the waist reduction. Like you wouldn't know
that I'm wearing a corset, but it's there. (whimsical music) Okay, I am back, welcome back. That was productive. I had my camera in my pocket
and I kept wondering like, why am I supposed to be vlogging today? And then I realized, oh yeah, it's because I'm wearing a thing which I don't even feel like I'm wearing. So the TL;DR on this experiment is that this thing is quite comfy. It's quite, I mean, it's here. It's not really, like, doing anything, and honestly just kind of
feels like normal clothing. And I feel like that's
a bit anti-climatic. Okay, we are coming over here. So this way you can actually see the thing whilst I talk at you. So in conclusion, basically,
I did not feel this thing. I hardly even knew it was here all day, which, yes, provided for good movement and flexibility and... freedom (?), although I would argue that
this is actually its downfall because if you are wearing
some sort of garment for athletic support, you are going to want it to do Something. This has kind of no back support, definitely, for certain,
no lower back support. As you can see, it only
goes up from like here up. There's no abdominal support. There is no shoulder support. There is no posture improvement. This doesn't, genuinely,
it doesn't do anything. The one thing it does do quite well is it does maintain a nice
shape in the front here because there are these four bones. My scholarly conclusion on this experiment is that this is not a
corset, it's a bust bodice. It's not meant to be a corset. It's not meant to be an
athletic corset, certainly. It's not meant to actually
do anything supportive or structural to the body. What it's meant to, I think, do, is kind of be a fashion garment, which in a weird way was kind
of what the bust bodice was. It was basically just
meant to be worn, I think. There's speculation
whether they were worn with or without corsets. But the purpose of a bust bodice bodies was to build out the upper shape here. A boned garment on the top
here will do exactly that. And so that is what this thing is. Anyway, that is all for me today. I hope you enjoyed this admittedly Rather Pointless adventure,
but you know what? I had fun. If anything, it gave me a fantastic excuse to finally look into the history of Victorian sports corsetry, which is something I have been
meaning to do for a while. So I hope that was at
least mildly entertaining. I shall see you next week, wherein I have another
time traveling adventure, which I hope you will join me on. And now I'm going to go
consume myself some cake. Sadly, I do not happen to be in possession of a beautiful Victorian parlor in which to enjoy my tea and cake, but these are pandemic times and we all know that there
has been a strange dissolution of the boundaries
between screen and space. So I will para-socially
create my own Victorian parlor by watching the "Victorian
House of Arts and Crafts" from our sponsor, Acorn TV, in which a group of 21st century crafters endeavored to renovate four rooms in a Victorian house in Wales, using only Victorian tools
and techniques, can relate. This and many more hard-to-find gems can be found in Acorn's extensive library of classics and new
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using promo code bernadette. (whimsical music) (gentle music)
I'm not enjoying her more recent content, and this is an example of what I'm not enjoying. I liked to watch her create things. I also know she mentioned that she wants to review a fashion corset. I just don't really get it? I think we all know that an athletic corset or a fashion corset aren't going to compare to a corset made using historical fashion. If she had taken this modern athletic corset and made an athletic corset or athletic stays (like Mariah Pattie did) to compare, this video would have appealed to me more.
I like Bernadette's personality and I love it when she creates things, so I'm finding this move towards critiquing other peoples designs and creations kind of disappointing. I'm not hating on her, I'm sure she's getting burned out between preparing for her move and COVID and is just looking for easy content.
Sorry for being a little late in posting this 🙈
I like that she changes the content of her videos a bit, but this was frustrating to watch!
Maybe because she is so removed from current trends and contemporary fashion, she doesn't seem to get that this "corset" AIN'T A DAMN CORSET! It's like selling blue tights under the name of "jeans" and reviewing them as if they were jeans. Sorry, but no denim, no jeans. In this case, no support whatsoever, no corset.
Also, I'm 99.9% certain that whoever designed this wasn't expecting any buyers to wear it while doing exercise. Sports brands aren't just selling sports clothes anymore, but "sport-looking-fashion". It's not my cup of tea and I do not wear it, but come on! Who can think, for half a second, that this was a sports corset?
I understand that her usual videos take much longer to create, film and edit: hand sewing takes ages, the documentary-style videos require long editing, etc. But I would have preferred her to abstain from this. A much shorter video with shots of her moving boxes, dust and wee Cesario running around, with her narrating how she doesn't have any time to film because she is moving, would have been less time consuming and more "on brand".