Corset Story

While browsing in my favorite local vintage shop, I've often wondered why ladies of by gone eras donned dresses made with such heavy fabrics.  After shopping a recent sale from Unique Vintage, I purchased a metallic wiggle dress that is made for that bombshell hourglass figure that I do not possess.  Determined to create the shape I needed to make this dress look as it should, I purchased a vamp corset.  After a few alterations to the corset, I finally got my answer about those vintage fabrics.

Although the Vamp certainly creates some extreme curves that make my shape unrecognizable when I look in the mirror, it also comes with some rather noticeable lines and annoying protrusion particularly in the front lower half.  Unfortunately due to the thin fabric on the dress there's no way to hide it, even with some thick, high-waist shaping shorts which I am wearing in these photos.

For this particular outfit, I went full vintage and donned a corset, bullet bra, etc.  Turns out, those thick fabrics helped to hide all those lines created by garters, girdles, and corsets.  Undergarments were rather meticulous, consisting of lots of layers and interlocking parts.  It all adds up to be quite bulky, so thicker fabrics were necessary to smooth out those lines.

While I really adore the overall effect that these vintage undergarments create, I can certainly see why they gave way to lighter and more comfortable fare.  After all, the heyday of corsets was also when women began wearing dungarees to be more comfortable in their everyday lives and save the restrictive sundries for special occasions.

It is possible that some of this protrusion has come from the fact that I had to tailor the corset to my measurements to correct the gap at the back-top and at the hips, but I think this problem would have existed even if the corset had been a perfect fit due to how thin this fabric is.   

While I know that certain influencers like Rachel Jensen have videos of themselves wearing their corsets with no shame, I haven't quite come around to the idea of accepting the lines.  I'd rather keep everything smooth and concealed if at all possible.

Lines aside, this dress was a steal at the clearance price of roughly $32, so no regrets there.  I'll surely keep working with it until I figure out something I'm comfortable with, because I am determined to wear this dress out to date night and an exhibit at a local museum that I'm interested to see.

Shopping Info:  Unique Vintage Black & Metallic Houndstooth Jaqueline Pencil Dress-$32