ABSTRACT
The construction of corsetlessness as a dangerous evil drew upon similar moral language employed in the domestic suppression of radicalism. Corsetlessness had, after all, been long identified with radical feminist and utopian movements. Building upon earlier studies, this chapter picks up the chronology with the turn-of-the-century period, when use of rigid nineteenth-century corset declined, and continues through the first decades of the twentieth century, when challenges to the corset intensified. However, corsetlessness had been a twentieth-century look since Paul Poiret's introduction of corsetless dresses in 1908. Panic is also revealed by many contradictory statements that at one moment express relief over corsetless fad's demise, at the next moment state the continuing need to exhort against it, and end by bemoaning the fad's ongoing effect on sales and profits. Corset fitting manuals written by corsetieres employed as teachers in corset schools, consistently stressed the professional aspects of this work. The Royal Worcester Corset Company announced the retreat to the perfect figure.
