STYLE VS. STATEMENT AS CELEBS DON CORSETS
Not everyone is ready to start sucking it all in
In the celeb world, it’s out with belts and in with corsets.
Yes, we’re talking about a revival of Victorian-era waisttrainers.
While on the big screen Emma Watson ditched the corset in Beauty and the Beast, in recent months, corsets have started circling the slender waists of trend-setters such as Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner. Only this time, the boning is proudly on display, with stars layering the ribcrunching undergarment over T-shirts and thermals.
The trend is growing: Fashion corsets are now gracing the windows of mass retailers such as Zara and Forever 21.
The look didn’t come out of a vacuum: Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, Louis Vuitton and Preen are among designers who have been known to strap waist trainers on their models before hitting the runway.
In fact, a sharp renaissance involving the waist-cinchers came from Prada’s Fall 2016 collection, which showcased loosely tied corsets over Miuccia Prada’s designs. “It just looked so cool,” says Eric Wilson, fashion news director of InStyle. “It was more of a nod to that history in a very knowing way by taking ownership of this garment that was once so restrictive.”
Within days, he adds, “people were making their own corset belts.”
At the March 7 premiere of Personal Shopper, Kristen Stewart hopped onto the trend, wearing Sally LaPointe’s Pre-Fall 2017 corset pants. A soft A.L.C. bra top completed the look.
So what’s the M.O. here? Is this a 2017 twist on bra-burning — or a return to ghastly expectations of the female form?
Centuries ago, the corset rose in popularity as a suffocating, cinching device among aristocrats, with linen-wrapped boning leaving women gasping, and sometimes fainting, as their organs were rearranged so midsections could be pulled taut.
The look died out in the early 20th century as war supplies took priority over fashion. By the 1920s, the corseted look had waned in favor of looser styles, coinciding with a decade that finally gave women the right to vote in the U.S.
More recently, corsets have been mostly relegated to costuming. Madonna reclaimed the trend in 1989, donning Jean Paul Gaultier’s pink satin corset with conical bra cups, a stage look later mimicked by Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.
More recently, Kim Kardashian endorsed waist-trainers as a figure-shaping miracle, to the chagrin of the medical community.
“For the most part, they are used to gain a more hourglass figure,” says Ruben Soto of Hourglass Angel, which sells a variety of shapewear and undergarments. Though he hasn’t seen an specific uptick in corset sales since stars flipped the approach on how to wear them, “maybe long term it will change the impression of what corsets are and make them a little more approachable,” Soto says.
Corsetry pops up cyclically in the fashion world “every decade,” says Wilson, who doesn’t think the latest incarnation is simply a celebrity fad among ‘it’ girls, such as Nicola Peltz or Hailey Baldwin.
This time, as the women’s movement grows during the Trump era, insiders say the intention is far more politicized.
“I don’t think this is a trend that people are adopting just because Kim Kardashian wore it,” Wilson says “It’s such a powerful look that even putting it on, even if you’re not aware of what the discussion is around it, you have to realize you’re basically putting a bra or a corset over your clothes. That significance can’t be lost on people.”
The look continues to drive sales: Shopstyle.com reports corset searches up a whopping 97.2% yearover-year (corset belts are the most popular).
But not everyone is sucking in their stomachs and lacing up.
“Being a lady today means being a fighter. It means being a survivor. It means letting yourself be vulnerable and acknowledging your shame or that you’re sad or you’re angry. It takes great strength to do that,” Lady Gaga wrote in an essay for Harper’s Bazaar last November.
Gaga credited her mother and grandmothers’ strength. “That’s the kind of lady I want to be. You know, I never thought I’d say this, but isn’t it time to take off the corsets? As someone who loves them, I think it’s time to take them off.”