When we launched the Scroop + Virgil’s Fine Goods Cassandra Stays someone asked about the different tab shapes of the Augusta Stays (pointed triangular tabs) and the Cassandra Stays (rectangular tabs).

I love a good ‘learn about historical fashion by comparing what you see in extant examples’ post (like the one I did on late 18th century sleeve stripes), and thought this was the perfect topic for that.

So, I combed museum catalogues for 18th century stays, assembled a bunch (I may have gotten carried away…) and analysed the tab shapes.

There are two main tab shapes that you see on 18th century stays: Rectangular, and Triangular.

Rectangular tabs can have 1) crisp, sharp corners, 2) gently rounded corners, and 3) very rounded corners.

Triangular tabs can be 1) full points, or 2) a very angled shape with a truncated point.

Let’s look at examples of each type, and see if there’s any correlation between tab shapes and dates, or locations.

I have arranged the stays chronologically by date (or as close as possible to) within each category.

Rectangular Tabs

Rectangular tabs with sharp corners

Starting with a non-standard piece, as these are boned bodices/smooth-covered stays worn as outerwear.  The polychrome example  has long rectangular tabs.   Interestingly, the tabs on it and the gold court bodice appear to be finished by wrapping the fabric to the back, rather than binding the tabs.  It’s not clear if the tabs are extensions of the stay body, with bones carried from one to the next, but with a join in the covering fabric, or if the tabs are completely separate pieces.

This 1730s-40s example has some tabs that are almost truncated triangles, but most are rectangular:

Both the shape of this pair of stays, and its tabs, are similar to the one above:

Although the first two tabs from the front on this pair are slightly triangular, all the other tabs are crisp rectangles, so I would place it in this category:

This pair is interesting, as some of the work on it is incredibly fine and beautiful, but tab binding is rather rough.  The angle of the tabs makes it hard to see if they are true rectangles, or slightly tapered:

Very rectangular tabs:

Short rectangles:

Long, clear rectangles.  Interestingly, all the stays in this book, of every date, have predominantly rectangular tabs with crisp corners, suggesting that triangular and rounded tabs were uncommon in what is now Czechia.

Lovely crisp rectangles.  Like the first image, this was intended to be worn as outerwear, and the tabs are wrap-finished, and may be separate pieces.

Long, crisp rectangles – and an example of front and back lacing!  (although the back lacing looks like the working lacing).

 

So, crisp rectangular tabs are seen from the very early 18th century, in to the 1780s.

Rounded Rectangles

Moving on to tabs with more rounded corners, we start with an example that could plausibly have been placed in with the sharp cornered examples, as some of the rounding may be age and wear:

I’d love to know how the Metropolitan Museum of Art arrived at the dating for these stays, as they look much more like mid-18th century examples than any images of late 17th/early 18th c stays that I am aware of, or any extant pairs with very definitive dating.

I wish this strikingly coloured pair had a more definite date, but I do like how clearly you can see the tab shape:

You can only see two tabs on this pair, but they are rounded rectangles:

And all of the stays in Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty have rounded rectangular tabs – particularly #4, which is the ‘correct’ line!

Good dating, and very clear tab shape:

The side front tabs on this pair, as on many stays, are trapezoids, but all the other tabs are rounded rectangles:

Very rounded rectangles:

And the shape continues in to the mid-century:

This pair has a very interesting front treatment, and then rounded tabs:

And here’s another boned bodice/court bodice, this one with rounded rectangular tabs:

Again the broad front point seen on some mid-century stays, and then short rounded rectangular tabs:

This pair of stays has borderline triangular shapes on the two front tabs, and then rectangular shapes for the rest.

I’m not 100% convinced by the 1760s dating.  The boning layout, overall shape, and use of underarm reinforcements are all closer to elements seen on stays dated to the 1780s than on any other example of 1760s stays I am familiar with.

They certainly have some fascinating elements, like the prick-stitch boning channels.

This pair of stays is entirely consistent with its given date (and properly laced, ahem), and has very rounded tabs:

This pair has those almost triangular side-front points, but the rest are rectangular:

And the same here.  I would suggest this pair is either quite old-fashioned, or at the earliest end of its dating range:

(why, oh why, for all the effort to photograph, can’t the stagers figure out how to lace properly!)

This pair appears to be indigo dyed, which makes me wonder if it ever rubbed off on the shift or garment lining.  Like the stays above, I think it’s more late 1760s-1770s in style than 1780s or 90s.

I have similar feelings about the dating of this pair.  The finish of the top edge is interesting:

Stunning, perfectly dated, and with those trapezoidal front points and rounded rectangle tabs:

Rectangle tabs all round on this half-boned pair with back-tying straps and a lovely yellow shade:

And the same here on this fantastic pair which are so similar to the front-lacing Cassandras.

Moving into the 1780s, a classic shape for that era, interesting half-boning, and rounded rectangle tabs:

And similarly:

Another great front-and-back lacing example with rounded-rectangle tabs:

Stunning shaping to the bust line of this pair, beautiful even tabs, and evidence that it once had narrow wrapping tie straps.

Based on the amount of available extant examples, rounded rectangles appear to have been the most common shape, and was used from the start of the century, up until at least the 1780s.

There is a 1790s pair featured in Stays or a Corset that also has rounded rectangular tabs, so that shape was in use at least until the end of the century.  However it doesn’t appear to have been the most fashionable shape for stay tabs in the last quarter of the 18th century, as we are about to learn…

Triangular Tabs

Pointed Triangular Tabs

The earliest examples of stays with pointed triangular tabs date from 1770 onwards, and are all on stays that are very similar to the ones we used as inspiration for the Augusta Stays.

Like this pretty greeny-gold pair and its very pointy tabs:

And this shapely mushroom pair with its narrow, narrow boning:

Brown appears to have been a very fashionable colour for stays in the 1780s:

Look at all those triangular tabs!:

This lovely purple damask pair has front lacing only, and triangular tabs:

Pointy, pointy, pointy:

Stays with a very cool front point, and then loooooong pointy tabs:

So, very triangular tabs seem to have been exclusively used from 1770 onwards, and primarily on very fashionable stays.

What about truncated triangles?

Truncated Triangular Tabs

The line between rounded rectangles and truncated triangles is somewhat blurred, but I feel this pair has a definite tapering to its tabs:

As does this pair:

On this pair, in a colour very similar to the NGV ones with pointed tabs, the truncated triangular shape is very clear:

Look at the lovely tab shape on this delightful yellow pair:

And that shape continues into the very short transitional stays/corsets of the 1790s:

So, based on these examples, fully triangular tabs exclusively appear on stays from the 1780s onwards.

Tab Shape Unclear:

We’re starting this section with a pair of stays that is a bit of an anomaly.  It has a very unusual front treatment, and the underarm protection appears to be a later addition.  The first two tabs are distinctly triangular, but the rest appear to be rectangles, so its not a perfect fit for any category.

I’ve also placed this lovely pair of pink stays in this category too.  Certainly the side front points are truncated triangles, but what you can see of the remaining points suggests the rest are rounded rectangles.  I’d love to see more photos, but only one shows up in the catalogue record (link through image) The presence of a bust rail and the shape of the pattern pieces suggests that this pair is from the later end of its date range.

The same lack of clarity about tab shapes applies to this pair:

Another pair where you can’t quite see what’s going on, although it appears to be rounded rectangles:

Conclusions:

Tab shapes to appear to correspond to dating.

Extant examples suggest that triangular tabs, whether pointed or truncated, are primarily seen in the last quarter of the 18th century.

Rectangular tabs appear throughout the 18th century, but may have been less fashionable or cutting edge in the last quarter.

Slightly rounded rectangular shapes seem to have been the most common shape in stay tabs.

That’s my current working theory for stay dating and drafting based on available evidence, but, like all research, it’s subject to change!

Do you know of any examples of stays that I didn’t include that support or contradict this conclusions?  Leave a comment and let me know!

And, go forth and use this information to make your own stays more accurate to the look you want to represent!