Lingerie-Supply.com

Posted on 18th Aug 2011 @ 4:15 AM

A corset is a close-fitting piece of clothing that has been stiffened by various means in order to shape a woman's torso to conform to the fashionable silhouette of the time. The term "corset" only came into use during the 19th century; before that, such a garment was usually referred to as a pair of bodies, a stiff bodice, a pair of stays or, simply, stays. In French 18th century texts (e.g. Garsault, Diderot), you can find the term corset as a lightly stiffened bodice with tie-on sleeves, whereas proper stays are called corps.
Renaissance and Baroque

1660s stays with sleeves
The origins of the corset are unknown. From the early 16th century, corset-shaped cages of iron are preserved, but it's almost certain that they had nothing to do with normal clothing. Theories run from early fetish accessories to brute attempts at orthopaedics. Judging from contemporary depictions, stiffened bodices must have been worn around 1530 because the straight, conical line of the torso seen e.g. in portaits of Venetian ladies or Eleanora di Toledo could not have been achieved otherwise. The neckline is relatively high and the chest pressed flat rather than pushed up.
Very few stays from the 16th and 17th century have been preserved. This may be due to the fact that until well into the 17th century, the bodice of the dress itself was stiffened so that an extra corset was unnecessary. Only towards the end of the 17th century, the shaping stays finally became a piece of cothing in its own right, independent from the dress bodice. From now on, ladies dressed not in a combination of skirt and stiff bodice, but in a combination of skirt and jacket or skirt and robe worn over a stiff bodice that had been demoted to underwear.
Link: 1640s stays at the Manchester Galleries