The fashionable silhouette can only be achieved by wearing the correct foundation. The corsets you wear determine your line.
A woman going to buy a dress from one of the Paris couturiers is as a matter of course first advised on the foundation she requires and only then are her clothes created for her. Regrettably the same custom does not as yet prevail in England, nor indeed is there the same awareness of the importance of corsetry. The average woman still concentrates her attention and her purse on dresses, suits, coats, accessories, and buys corsets as a secondary consideration.
It is important to change this habit and adopt a more realistic attitude to corsetry. Build up a foundation wardrobe, giving it equal status with your clothes, choosing corsets, brassieres and corselettes which interpret the fashion and help to flatter you.
Manufacturers in this country are go-ahead. Not only have they made enormous strides in design, sizing, and material-they are also very alive to fashion developments. In brassieres, for instance, you will now find a variety of excellent strapless, low-cut and plunge styles to suit the scooped out and deep wide décolletages designed for the important evening dresses of an historic year. For the smooth slender waistline that is so marked in the Collections, there are waist controlling corselettes and many excellent high-cut girdles. Figure control no longer depends on formidable boning, heavy materials. The new elastic net, for example, is as light as a feather yet strong and durable, fitting like a second skin. Hitherto there has been a convention that the younger girl does not need to bother much about corsets. This is an obvious fallacy since the right foundation worn early is the best safeguard against figure problems in later life. Manufacturers are now turning their attention more and more to catering for the younger girl's needs. Foundations are being made which are skillfully designed and at the same time attractive. Whatever your age, insist on proper fitting - there are still women who will buy a garment over the counter. Yet most of the stores employ expert fitters to give assistance. It is important, for instance, to see that a girdle stays well down at the back below the buttocks, that a corselette does not drag the bust down. You will find that manufacturers now make for all figure types, not stock sizes only. If you are small of waist but large of hips, slight in the bust but broad in the back, there are brassieres and girdles to suit you. From March l6th to 2lst, the corset trade is holding a National Corset Week in Great Britain. In honour of this event, we have chosen styles from many of the leading manufacturers to show the range, versatility and fashion consciousness of modern corsetry.
It seems incredible to us that foundation garments are bought every day in this country over the counter. We feel that it is imperative that as much trouble should be taken in choosing a corset, by careful fitting, as a pair of shoes. The function of a foundation garment is to be skin-fitting and comfortable, to help adjust the figure to a good and healthy posture and mould it into a basis for current fashion; for no dress, however expensive, will look good over a figure which has not been tailored beneath it. To this end there must be a definite co-operation between stores and customers. The corset departments should be prepared to give time, knowledge and skill to fit each customer carefully and accurately with the correct corset for her figure. The customer should help by being willing to be fitted and by not buying a corset unless she is absolutely satisfied with it.
In choosing a corset, the first thing is to have a clear idea of what your figure type needs. Figures can be roughly divided into three groups.
The average figure usually has a difference of six to nine inches between bust and waist and nine to ten inches between waist and hips. Although easy to fit, it must still be considered how much control is needed and the specific places where it is needed.
The second type has a small bust and waist, with weight below the waist. A girdle with strong hip control is needed, fitting into the waist and reaching well down over the thighs.
The top-heavy figure has a heavy bust and narrow hips, the weight being concentrated above the waist. A high-waisted girdle with a long brassiere, or one with strong uplift, is good for this type.
Most figures can wear a corselette, and this gives a wonderfully smooth all-over line. The exceptions are those who are unusually long in the torso (this will cause the bust to be dragged down) and those who have a large difference between bust and hip measurements.
Before you try on a selection of corsets, your measurements must be taken correctly-over one layer of clothing only. A tremendous lot depends upon how the garment is put on. Cross the legs to reduce the hip measurement when drawing on the garment. When fastening a hook-side corset, start from the bottom hook and work up, giving a lifting movement to the flesh instead of dragging it down. Straighten by pulling the garment down at back and sides, never the front, and do up the suspenders. See that the garment extends 12 to 2 inches below the gluteal fold (the fold between buttocks and thighs). If it is too short at the back it will not only pull on the back suspenders, but in the case of a girdle, will wrinkle at the waist in front. Sit down and check that the garment is still long enough, also, if it is boned, that the bones are correct. If they are too long they will poke into the rib cage, if they are too short they will stick into the groin. It is no use thinking that you can remove them, for this will ruin the whole design and balance of the garment, but they can be adjusted. See that the base of the garment is not so tight that the flesh bulges out of the binding.
Today brassieres are made in a large variety of fittings, allowing for the width of the back and depth of the chest as well as the size of the bust. The bust should be brought forward from beneath the armpits, yet a good division still maintained. Put on your brassiere correctly by slipping the straps over the shoulders; lean forward so that the bust drops naturally into the cups, and slide the hands round to the back and fasten. Sit down and see that the bust is smoothly cupped and that the base of the brassiere fits the chest wall completely.
