corsetmaker
{{Short description|Specialist tailor who makes corsets}}
Image:Planche II Interieur de la boutique d'un tailleur de corps(cut).png
A corsetmaker is a specialist tailor who makes corsets. Corsetmakers are frequently known by the French equivalent terms corsetier (male) and corsetière (female). Staymaker is an obsolete name for a corsetmaker.
Design and distribution
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The best corsetmakers are highly skilled tailors with a knowledge of anatomy that enables them to make well-fitting, long-lasting corsets. Corsetmakers who reproduce historical styles must be familiar with historical fashions and costumes that span centuries of history. Individual corsetmakers often favour a certain style, and frequently have differing theories and opinions about the physical impact and benefits of various corsets, thereby influencing their corset design and creation.
Image:Barcley custom corsets02 .png
The main consideration of corset design is duration of use. For short-term use, e.g. used for a special event such as a wedding, a corset will be worn briefly and so is not subject to wear, therefore need not be of the highest quality of construction. For long-term use, e.g., by tightlacing or waist training, corsets must be made to exact standards and are best custom-fitted and designed for the individual wearer. Single weakness or flaws tend to be visible. Some custom-made gowns have corsets built into the design; a talented dressmaker may also be a skilled corset-maker.
Some companies had travelling saleswomen, corsetières who ordered the tailored corsets from the company. Well-known are Spirella (1904–1989), Barcley, and Spenser.
Notable corsetmakers
- Roxey Ann Caplin - British writer and inventorMADAME CAPLIN'S INVENTIONS FOR THE ADAPTATION OF THE DRESS TO THE BODY; THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH; The Cure of Deformity, and the Display of Beauty.
- Catherine Allsop Griswold - a Connecticut corsetmaker who held 30 patents, the most of any woman in America at the time.{{Cite web |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1992/1/1992_1_22.shtml |title=AmericanHeritage.com / THE CHAMPION OF WOMEN INVENTORS |access-date=2008-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113140854/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1992/1/1992_1_22.shtml |archive-date=2008-01-13 |url-status=dead }}[http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/shocker/FemInv/most.html Most prolific women inventors - 1790-1895] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704190756/http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/shocker/FemInv/most.html |date=2008-07-04 }}
- Thomas Paine - American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He trained to become a staymaker as a teenager, as it was his family trade, but did not stay in the profession after his teen years.{{Cite web |title=Did Thomas Paine make corsets for a living? |url=https://thomaspaine.org/pages/resources/did-thomas-paine-make-corsets-for-a-living.html |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=thomaspaine.org |language=en}}
See also
{{commons category|Corsetiere}}
References
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Books
- Doyle R. (1997)Waisted Efforts, An Illustrated Guide To Corset Making. Nova Scotia, Sartorial Press Publications, {{ISBN|0-9683039-0-0}}
- [http://www.haabet.dk/TightLinings_andBoning/index.html Tight Linings and Boning Mary Brooks Picken, 1920] [https://web.archive.org/web/20200129032747/http://www.haabet.dk/TightLinings_andBoning/index.html Archive link]
- [http://www.haabet.dk/The_Practical_Corsetiere/index.html The Practical Corsetiere Mme Ruth A. Rosenfeld 1933] [https://web.archive.org/web/20210126150121/http://www.haabet.dk/The_Practical_Corsetiere/index.html Archive link]
- The Basics Of Corset Building, A Handbook For Beginners by Linda Sparks (Author) {{ISBN|0-9737358-0-5}}
- Caplin - Health and Beauty (1864)
{{Corsetry}}