FROM CATERINA DE’ MEDICI TO SPRING SUMMER 2022 COLLECTIONS, THE RETURN OF THE CORSET

Throughout history the corset has undergone many variations and evolutions. Created for the purpose of shaping the female body shape, this garment has been one of the symbols of patriarchy for centuries. In the 1500s, to wear the corset for the first time was Catherine de’ Medici, who made it immediately popular.

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

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

HOW CAN AN ANTI-FEMINIST GARMENT REPRESENT FREEDOM?

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