Fortunately for our internal organs, but perhaps less so for our silhouettes, corsets as a de rigeur garment have been out of fashion for nearly a century. I’ve liked them ever since seeing Gone With the Wind at a tender age, but wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing one outside of the Fashion Museum in Bath…until now. My inspiration ultimately came after watching The Devil Wears Prada for the umpteenth time (I tend to do this while guiltily avoiding “classic” movies I know will be “good” for me). Towards the end, Anne Hathaway is dressed in this fantastic all-black ensemble, which just so happens to feature an underbust corset (see 2:06 in the video).
Now that I’m all employed, I’ve started dressing up a bit for work lately as well, where the dress code is black and white. Once seized w/ the idea, I couldn’t stop thinking how unbelievably cool a corset would look w/ my long black skirts (now you know the sort of thing I think about normally). I went immediately to Etsy to begin my search, and found this black taffeta corset.
When it arrived, I was surprised at how light and pliable it seemed; I had been imagining something a bit more…armor-like. I mean, it did have steel boning, after all. Naturally, I couldn’t resist making my new acquisition prove itself by test-driving a few outfits…
I know the laces look sort of complicated…but there are actually two sets; one that laces up from the bottom; the other down from the top. They meet in the middle, and make adjustment fairly easy. Taking it on and off wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had feared. However, I had to rethread the ribbons almost every time I did, which meant a lot of standing w/ my back to the mirror, twisting my head around and randomly tugging on strings.
This was probably my favorite look, w/ the button-up shirt (luckily, the bit of bunching at the bust didn’t produce any unsightly gaps) and the corset tucked in, esp. since this skirt has a pronounced waistband.
Of course, making a corset look dressy is easy. I also wanted a more understated feel. Little is more understated than jeans (btw–I am resisting the whole haute sweatpants thing. If you’re going to wear sweatpants, more power to you; I never took them off in HS. But don’t pretend they’re something else).
It’s a surprisingly utilitarian addition to a wardrobe…and one that I think will continue to keep cropping up.
**Update** (11/11): Angelina Jolie wears corsets too! So they must be cool. 
I like your jeans! And you’re making me want a corset of my own.
Btw, Angelina Jolie looks really weird in that picture… She doesn’t look like herself. Too much photoshopping probably.