I thought I was too old for corsets at 50 – but they've helped me rediscover my post-lockdown waist
Just look at Billie Eilish on the front cover of Vogue. That’s one hell of an image overhaul. For the shoot, her trademark baggy hoodie and skater shorts have been replaced with a pink satin corset, which gives her an hourglass silhouette, with a classic, old-timey pin-up Hollywood glamour look. She’s even dyed her trademark, grunge green and black hair a bright Marilyn platinum.
According to Vogue it was entirely her own idea. The 19-year-old pop star, who first came to our attention with her viral hit Ocean Eyes, recorded when she was just 13, may well singlehandedly revive the corset, making it cool for Gen Z, though it was already having a bit of a moment. Thanks to Bridgerton, the bodice-ripping Regency romp that had us all swooning over the Duke of Hastings played by Regé-Jean Page, online searches for corsets rocketed, up 123 per cent last December, according to online search engine Lyst. And even before that, ahead of the curve influencers like Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa were on board with last year’s ‘summer corset’.
But what if, like me, you’re in your mid-50s? After a year spent in pandemic athleisure wear, is it now time to go the full Jessica Rabbit? Or is that somewhat de trop for a midlife look? Madonna is 62 and it hasn’t stopped her. But, well, she’s Madonna.
Well, let me just tell you about my own experience with corsetry, as earlier this year I was lent one by the esteemed designer Deborah Brand, who dresses Salma Hayek, Amal Clooney and the ultimate, modern hourglass icon, Kim Kardashian.
London-based Brand is known for her exquisite made-to-measure corsetry. But she has a new ready-to-wear, under-the-bosom corset out, the Mila, which can knock a full five inches off any lockdown waist. Gasp.
At first I wasn’t convinced, I mean they look fabulous on 20something, and 30something fashion mavens like Charli Howard (30), and Dylan Weller (24), who both feature on Brand’s Instagram feed, but was it really a look for a work-from-home, 50something mum of two, who generally slouches around in jeans (OK, sweatpants) and a T-shirt? I didn’t think so.
But then I tried it on and I’m a fully paid up convert. I absolutely love it. So what persuaded me out of my elasticated waists and into waist-cinching lacing?
First, the sheer artistry. Like Eilish, I’m drawn to the beauty, the craftsmanship, the hourglass silhouette. With more than 100 components (including 45 steel and polymer bones) and its duchess satin lining, I feel elevated in its mere presence. Once I’d put it on and yanked on the straps – the corset has been designed so that you can put in on by yourself – I looked in the mirror and thought “not bad for an old bird.”
I swear the corset has improved my posture and not just when I’m wearing it. Of course it’s impossible to slouch when you’re bound in so tight, but the corset has also acted as a kind of sartorial motivation, reminding me that, yes I do have a waist. The corset first made an entrance back in the 1500s, worn mainly by women, but also men for its posture-enhancing benefits.
When wearing it I sit up straight like a dancer and I have more presence. Head high, shoulders back, I feel like somebody – even when I’m just WFH. The corset acts as a kind of personal Alexander teacher or Pilates class. Such is the lesson, I’ve found myself sitting up straighter, even when I’m not wearing it.
And, as Eilish has discovered, a corset can improve your body confidence. She says she is drawn to corsets. “If I’m honest with you, I hate my stomach, and that’s why.” I’ve always hated my stomach. Generally, I don’t fret about it too much (there have been other more important things to worry about this year), but on those days when I do mind about feeling a bit pudgy, I can slip into the Mila and my muffin top is suddenly, miraculously, as flat as a pancake, even with those extra lockdown kilos.
My corset is actually very easy to wear and can be laced as tight as you like. Crucially, I can still breathe, which is lucky, because I’m not the type to punish myself with fashion-induced fainting fits. And just in case you are thinking I’ve fallen into a all dressed up and nowhere to go trap, as an experiment I’ve tried wearing it with jeans and a white shirt as well as an Isabel Marant silk pleated skirt and Haught Hippie shirt, and discovered that it is a simple way to elevate almost any outfit, adding a layer of glamour and feminine curves.
In fact, I have yet to wear it out of the house, but my boyfriend was so taken, he ended up buying me a corset as a Valentine’s gift (mostly for him, I think). Which brings me to sex. It’s hard to think about corsets without talking about sex. In the last recession corset sales soared – when they’re too cash-strapped to go out, women want to look their best for a night in, apparently. The year we’ve just had gives another opportunity for it to come back in the way that corsets have always chimed with certain moments, whether it was Dior’s New Look of the 1950s, with its nipped-in waists and extravagant skirts, or in the 1970s when Vivienne Westwood began using corsets as part of her historic punk aesthetic. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler incorporated corsets into their designs in the 1980s and in the 1990s Madonna in Gaultier’s pink satin corset during her Blond Ambition tour made them iconic. This year, Prada made a splash with one made of minimalist black nylon, while Dior dazzled with a £1,750 D-Lace corset belt, made of smooth calfskin. McQueen uses corsetry as a staple, often presenting crafted, structured bodices.
Criticised as a bone-crushing health hazard, and patriarchal instrument of torture, corsets are still controversial. Eilish knows that. She predicts a backlash from certain quarters. “‘If you’re about body positivity, why would you wear a corset? Why wouldn’t you show your actual body?’,” as she told Vogue. “My thing is that I can do whatever I want.
“It’s all about what makes you feel good. If you want to get surgery, go get surgery. If you want to wear a dress that somebody thinks that you look too big wearing, f--k it – if you feel like you look good, you look good.”
I’m with Eilish on this one. Who cares how old you are, what size you are, or indeed what’s ‘appropriate’? Say what you like, my corset makes me feel on top of the world. And after the year we’ve all had, who doesn’t want a bit of that?
