Corset

By Alejandra Sieder.

“The corset has been an indispensable article of clothing for several centuries in Europe, evolving as fashion trends have changed. Women, as well as some men, have used it to change the appearance of their bodies.
The corset first became popular in sixteenth-century Europe, reaching the zenith of its popularity in the Victorian era. While the corset has typically been worn as an undergarment, it has occasionally been used as an outer-garment; corsets as outer-garments can be seen in the national dress of many European countries. Shortly after the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, the U.S. War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. This step liberated some 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships. The corset, which had been made using steel stays since the 1860s, further declined in popularity as women took to brassieres and girdles which also used less steel in their construction. However, body shaping undergarments were often called corsets and continued to be worn well into the 1920s.
However, these garments were better known as girdle with the express purpose of reducing the hips in size. A return to waist nipping corsets in 1939 caused a stir in fashion circles but World War II ended their return. In 1952, a corset known as 'The Merry Widow' was released by Warner's. Initially, the Merry Widow was a trademark of the famous Maidenform company, which designed it for Lana Turner's role in a 1952 movie of the same name. The Merry Widow differed from earlier corsets in that it separated the breasts, whereas corsets had held them together. Both the Merry Widow and girdles remained popular throughout the 1950s. In the 1990s, fetish fashion became popular, and corsets made something of a recovery, often worn as outer- rather than undergarments. By 2010, the corset had recovered a new popularity in fashion. By April 2017, corsets were receiving large numbers of reviews on Amazon, one UK garment attracting more than a thousand reviews. A similar garment in the USA received over two thousand reviews".

• Original painting made in acrylic and ink on canvas.
• 90(W) x 90(H) x 3(D)cm.
• UV protected vanish, so will not fade in direct sunlight
• Stretched and ready to hang. 
• Signed with a certificate of authenticity.
• Delivered wrapped in a sturdy box.
• Tasmanian oak frame available, please contact for pricing.
• The painting will leave the studio 3 days after purchase.

If this painting is not the required size, I can do another version to your size specifications as a commission. So please contact me and I will organise a quote very quickly for you. 

All rights reserved ©2025 Alejandra Sieder