Fall 2016 trends: hail to the corset!

In the 18th and 19th century, corsets were possibly the most iconic sacrifice that women had to subject themselves to, in order to respect their time’s beauty canon. Only in early 20th century did fashion start changing, thanks to designers like Paul Poiret, and later Chanel, who started imagining dresses made of flowing lines, that followed the body’s curves, without constraining it to change its shape. Corsets stayed in the lingerie department for the longest time, triumphing in the closets of all the women who wanted to express their femininity more audaciously. That was the case until this year, when corsets, were spotted on the catwalk, reinterpreted in a completely different perspective.

Philosophy by Lorenzo Serafini’s summer 2016 corset is inspired by the Wild West, and was used on top of clothing as a belt, around the waist. Prada made their corset white, and placed it, untied, on top of a coat, for Fall Winter 2016-2017. Yes, you got that right: corsets are back and they must be worn over clothing, to mark your waist, just like during the Belle Epoque, albeit in a much more relaxed manner, as for tightness and styling, as shown by the most famous champion of thin waists, Kim Kardashian, who is wearing corsets in every possible flavor… And not just at night, as we would have expected: she wears them during the day, on top of an oversize T-shirt!

The key to making corsets contemporary is layering: just choose the right model — from the ones that cover the whole upper body, or those that just cover the waist — and wear it on top of shirts, sweaters, even overcoats. How about you? Would you feel like wearing a corset?