One of the things that people who have never worn a properly fitted corset or pair of stays say is “Oh, they are so confining and restrictive”.
Properly made, they really aren’t!
Proof?
Back in October when Stella and Priscilla and I had fun playing Georgian dress ups, Priscilla wore these Augusta Stays under her Georgian gentleman’s outfit.
I was photographing Stella looking all dreamy and gorgeous…
And Priscilla decided to photobomb us…by literally cartwheeling in!
So yeah, if you can do a cartwheel into a handstand in stays and heels, you can definitely move in them!
so true! proper fitting and construction can make all the difference. i have had poorly fitting bras that are more uncomfortable to wear than my stays and corsets made to period specifications and fitted to my body. and quite frankly, i’d rather wear my stays etc any day than something constrictive like “spanx” shaping undergarments…
honestly, if people simply could not move in period undergarments, i feel certain a tremendous amount of daily farm work, housework, and child-minding would have been unfeasible, and that clearly isn’t the case! somehow, Things Got Done through the centuries, including things involving spry movement. it’s become a sort of belief of our time that our attire and ways of doing things generally are intrinsically better and more comfortable than in previous periods, and i think that’s a really silly assumption. in some cases, perhaps they may; but in many others, modern things are less comfy and even, sometimes, less body-affirming than previous fashions.
I did a very quick mythbusting with one of my (rare 😀 ) male cousins the previous weekend when I was at a family gathering in Regency clothes, along the same lines. He asked “but can you move in it” and I pointed out to him that lots of women in the past could.
He’s not stupid so that was quite enough to stop any further comments. 🙂
I can attest to this – having run around and climbed hills in one of your corsets! Super comfy.
Excellent! Want to do it again soon? 😀