Essential features of a waist reducing corset:
- Must be made from coutil or an equivalent strong fabric (waist reducing corsets usually have more layers of fabric)
- Should ideally have a reinforced waist tape (for waist reducing corsets this is vital)
- Must be able to take around 4 inches off the wearer's waist (waist reducing corsets are designed to take much more than 4 inches off) If in any doubt, ask to see proof of this!
- Must be boned with plenty of steel bones, a mixture of spirals and flat steels is usual. It must have a steel busk rather than standard hooks and eyes. (waist reducing corsets usually have more boning than your typical standard one)
- Must have flat steels either side of the eyelets, which must be 2-part (ie eyelets with washers on the back) It is easy to tell if the back is boned correctly, as flat steels will not curve in at the waist, and the edges will be held parallel or in a V shape.
- Lacing should look like shoelaces, although stronger ribbons can be used. Most standard ribbons are not strong enough and will not stay nice anyway.
Some features to avoid when we buy a corset:
- Fancy fabrics with no coutil or drill etc for strength
- Several layers of fabric, but no indication of type of fabric
- Plastic boning or Ridgeline. This is never suitable for a waist reducing corset, whatever the seller might say
- Hook and eye fastenings. These will quickly bend out of shape and/or pull out as soon as you try to lace in.
- Lace bones made with spiral steels instead of flat steels either side of the eyelets. These will bend into a curve when you lace in, and not serve their purpose.
- No boning either side of the eyelets, or only on one side. (unless the corset has lacing bones) It's usually easy to tell that the eyelets are on the very edge of the fabric.
- Premade eyelet tape. Unless specially designed for corsetry, this is not strong enough.
- Zip fasteners. Beware of standard zips in corsets - they must be specially made corsetry zips.
- Listings using buzzwords like “authentic”, "real", "genuine", "victorian inspired", but with no details of construction
- Listings describing corsets as "waist reducing" or "tight-lacing" but with no details of construction (unless they are not able to give details , for example if the corset is second-hand)
- Listings with bad pictures, or with no picture of back view
- Picture of a corset on a shop mannequin which doesn't show how it will look on a real body. (unless of course the corset is second hand, or pictures can be found elsewhere)
- Made-to-order corsets which only take a few days to be made. Properly made corsets take hours and hours of hard work, even when they are not made to measure.
- A price which looks worryingly cheap. With corsets, you definitely get what you pay for, so if it's less than around $200 excluding shipping (which is impossibly cheap for a good looking high quality 6" waist reducing corset), there must be something missing.
- Seller is reluctant to give details and further pictures. Most good corset makers will be happy that you are showing an interest in their art!
- Seller doesn't know what you mean when you ask about any of the specifications above
Before/After pictures of a client during fitting:
Examples to show how corsets shape a real body by taking 4" off the wearer's waist:
Click on image to enlarge
