Yuri to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

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October is Fetish month #3 Corsets – Love’s Guide to Corsetry

Posted on | October 9, 2007 | 1 Comment |

The powers that be have decided that this month’s clothing fetish has to be…. corsets. Mmm the corset. More a device for deviancy than an item of clothing some might say. I guess that’s why I like them. Just in case anyone’s unaware of what a corset is see here. Proper corsets usually have ‘whalebone’ (now I think made of plastic) and wire and metal rods and all sorts of things like that that to squeeze tummy bits and breasty bits into the right shape. At the front it fastens with clips and then is pulled in tight at the back with stringy ribbony bits, criss crossed like shoe laces. Generally they’re used to shrink the waist by 3 or 4 inches which means my waist gets down to about 22inches (hang on that’s shrinking it by a lot more than 4 inches – I guess cake is really compressible).

Popular in 17th and 18th century fashion then falling out of favour in what I like to think of as the Jane Austin period, they’re now really really popular among in the goth scene and partakers of BDSM. I guess they’re effect can be considered in league with other measures of bondage and subordination. The way they restrict movement, induce fainting, pain and all manner of health problems might make any sane woman wonder why the hell anyone would have ever wanted to wear one. They were pretty much outlawed by the feminist movement as symbolising the restrictions imposed on women by society and their lack of freedom in terms of their appearance and the expectations they had to live up to for their menfolk. Now there are people mourning the return of the corset, implying that in embracing the sexiest item of lingerie imaginable we’re somehow giving up women’s suffrage and freedom of speech.

In a way though I think that’s also a big part of their appeal. If all women cared about was comfort in their clothing, we’d all have started just wearing our boyfriends’ clothes years ago. Women like to make sacrifices for fashion. We wear high heels, skimpy tops in the middle of winter, pluck our eyebrows, wax our legs etc etc, all pretty painful things. I’d say most women actually like to feel feminine and like to feel like they look sexy, and what better way than feeling and knowing that you have a figure to die for.

Despite their painful and restrictive appeal, corsets are certainly not just for the feminine subordinated types. For the dominatrix, a corset pretty much comes with the job. Throw on some tight leather corsetry and thigh-high super pointy boots (oh and dig out that riding crop) and you turn into the perfect all powerful BDSM goddess, ready to walk all over unsuspecting little girls, and squash even the strongest men with those 6inch needle-like heels.

Rather surprisingly, corsets in anime are few and far between. Yes they are sometimes worn by the gothloli or vamp types, but despite cosplay and outfit changing being a pretty prevalent topic, I don’t think I’ve even seen an anime girl yanking at another cute girl’s corset strings. Maybe it’s just because they all have the perfect figure already, or maybe I should be looking more in the realms of hentai, where you should be able the find the odd dominatrix type bound up in leather or PVC.

In short, I love corsets, and though I don’t really feel the need to wear them all the time, they have a very definite sexy appeal. Whether for transforming shy pasty Goths into dominatrices, discovering that hidden feminine waif like figure, or putting the finishing touches to the costume drama look, corsets are just awesome. Note to anime makers: I want to see more corsetry in all genres of anime and hentai. There. Oh and if you’re out there and wondering where to find yourself your very own corset, fairygothmother in London is probably one of my favourite, if not my favourite shops right now. Go. Get yourself a corset. (I don’t care if you’re a guy, that’s kinda sexy too ^_^)

Category: Editorials, Philosophy/Thoughts

Comments

One Response to “October is Fetish month #3 Corsets – Love’s Guide to Corsetry”

  1. Madame
    October 10th, 2007 @ 4:44 am

    Have to un-lurk to say this: Corsets FTW! I really need to pick one up one of these days (for my psycho-dominatrix moods, hell yeah).

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