From Caterina de Medici to the Spring Summer 2022 collections, the return of the corset

Throughout history, the corset has undergone many variations and evolutions. Created with the aim of modelling the female body shape, this garment has for centuries been one of the symbols of patriarchy. In the 1500s, it was Caterina de’ Medici who first wore the corset and made it immediately popular.

Today, the corset takes on softer, more natural forms and has lost its obsolete meaning. Just think that for centuries this garment led women to deformed organs (lungs and liver) and in some cases to sterility.

Much later, in 1973, the feminist movement for the physical liberation of women shouted ‘Burn the corsets’. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, American activist and writer, incited women to set fire to their corsets. For too long, women in particular have been the victims of fashion, their bodies modified and altered by garments like the corset. Today, what was for too long considered a predominantly anti-feminist garment is back, losing its obsolete past meaning.

HOW CAN AN ANTI-FEMINIST GARMENT REPRESENT FREEDOM?

The corset made a comeback in the 1970s, hence the story of its new image. It will be the British designer Vivienne Westwood who will give it a new meaning, closer to the concepts of sexual and feminine freedom. It will be followed by personalities such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler who, through celebrities such as Madonna and Dita Von Teese, will give new life and lymph to this garment. An interesting oxymoron, almost a veiled protest, to see one of the most controversial garments in history worn and as a trend.

MADONNA, LADY GAGA, KIM KARDASHIAN AND BELLA HADID WEAR THE CORSET

During the Spring Summer 2022 collections, many fashion houses used this garment. Fashion never exists only in the form of clothes, fashion is often the story of a message reflecting on the world, the past, through progress.

THE CORSET IN THE SPRING SUMMER 2022 COLLECTIONS