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 CHAPTER 1: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- The origin of the Corset
- The Indian hunting belt
- Reduction of the figure by the ancient inhabitants of Polenqui
- Use of the Corset by natives of the Eastern Archipelago
- Improvements in construction brought about by the advance of civilization
- Slenderness of waist esteemed a great beauty in the East
- Earth-eating in Java
- Figure princess in Ceylon
- The beauties of Circassia, their slender waists and Corsets
- Elegant princesses of Crim Tartary
- Hindoo belles
- Hindoo ideas of beauty
- Elegance of figure highly esteemed by the Persians
- Letter from a Chinese gentleman (Woo-tan-zhin) on slender waists
- Researches amongst the antiquities of Egypt
- Fashions of Egyptian ladies
- The Corset in use among the Israelitish
- The elegance of their costume, bridal dress, etc.
- Scriptural references
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CHAPTER 2: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- Homer the first ethnic writer who speaks of an article of dress allied to the Corset
- The cestus or girdle of Venus
- Terentius, the Roman dramatist, and his remarks on the practice of tight-lacing
- The use of the strophium by the ladies of Rome, and the mitra of the Grecian belles
- The peplus as worn by the ancients
- Toilet of a Roman lady of Fashion
- Roman baths
- Fashionable promenades of Ancient Rome
- Boundless luxury and extragance
- Cleopatra and her jewels
- The taper waists and tight-lacing of the ancient Roman ladies
- Conquest of the Roman Empire
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CHAPTER 3: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- The ladies of France
- Their fashions during the reign of King Pepin
- Revival of the taste for small waists
- Introduction of "cottes hardies"
- Monkish satire on the Corset in England in the year 1043
- The small waists of the thirteenth century
- The ancient poem of Launfal
- The Lady Triamore, daughter of the King of the Fairies
- Curious entry in the household register of Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, date 1265
- Corsets worn by gentlemen at that period
- The kirtle as worn in England
- The penance of Jane Shore
- Dress of Blanche, daughter of Edward III
- Dunbar's Thistle and Rose
- Admiration for small waists in Scotland in the olden time
- Chaucer's writings
- Small waists admired in his day
- The surcoat worn by worn by Marie d'Anjou of France
- Italian supremacy in matters of dress
- The Medici, Este, and Visconti
- Costume of an Italian duchess described
- Freaks of fashion in France and Germany
- Long trains
- Laws to restrain the length of skirts
- Snake-toed shoes give place to high-heeled slippers
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CHAPTER 4: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- The bonnet a' canon and sugarloaf headdress
- Headdress of the women of Normandy at the present day (1868)
- Odd dress of King Louis XI
- Return of Charles VIII from Naples
- A golden time for tailors and milliners
- General change of fashion
- Costumes of the time of Francis I of France and Maximilian of Germany
- General use of pins in France and England
- Masks worn in France
- Establishment of the empire of Fashion in France
- The puffed or bouffant sleeves of the reign of Henry II
- The Bernaise dress
- Costume of the unfortunate Marie Stuart
- Rich dresses and long slender waists of the period
- The tight-lacing of Henry III of France
- The Emperor Joseph of Austria, his edict forbidding the use of stays, and how ladies regarded it
- Queen Catherine de Medici and Queen Elizabeth I of England
- The severe form of Corsets worn in France and England
- The corps
- Steel Corset covers of the period
- Royal standard of fashionable slenderness
- The lawn ruffs of Queen Bess
- The art of starching ruffs
- Voluminous nether-garments worn by the gentlemen of the period
- Fashions of the ladies of Venice
- Philip Stubs on the ruff
- Queen Elizabeth I's collection of false hair
- Stubs furious at the fashions of ladies
- King James and his fondness for dress and fashion
- Restrictions and sumptuary laws regarding dress
- Side-arms of the period
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CHAPTER 5: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- Strange freaks of Louise de Lorraine
- One of her adventures
- Her dress at a royal fete
- Marie de Medici
- The distended dresses of her time
- Hair-power
- Costume a la enfant
- Escapade of the young Louis
- Low dresses of the period
- The court of Louis XIV of France
- High heels, slender waists, and fancy costumes
- The Siamese dress
- Charles I of England
- Patches introduced
- Elaborate costumes of the general prevalence of the practice of tight-lacing
- The ladies of Augsburg described by Hoechstetterus
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CHAPTER 6: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- Fashion during the reign of Louis XV.
- Costumes ŕ la Watteau
- An army of barbers
- The fashions of England during the reign of Queen Anne
- The diminutive waist and enormous hoop of her day
- The farthingale: letters in the Guardian protesting against its use
- Fashion in 1713
- Low dresses, tight stays, and short skirts
- Correspondence touching the fashions of that period from the Guardian
- Accomplishments of a lady’s-maid
- Writings of Gay and Ben Jonson—Their remarks on the bodice and stays
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CHAPTER 7: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- General use of the word "stays" after 1600 in England
- Costume of the court of Louis XVI
- Dress in 1776
- The formidable stays and severe constriction then had recourse to
- The stays drawn by Hogarth
- Dress during the French revolutionary period
- Short waists and long trains
- Writings of Buchan
- Jumpers and "Garibaldis"
- Return to the old practice of tight-lacing
- Training of figures: backboards and stocks
- Medical evidence in favour of stays
- Fashion in the reign of George III
- Stays worn habitually by gentlemen
- General use of Corsets for Boys on the Continent
- The officers of General Adolphus
- The use of the Corset for youths: a letter from a gentleman on the subject of evidence regarding the wearing of Corsets by gentlemen of the present day
- Remarks on the changes of fashion
- The term "Crinoline" not new
- Crinoline among the South Sea Islanders
- Remarks of Madame La Sante on Crinoline and slender waists
- Abstinence from food as an assistance to the Corset
- Anecdote from the Traditions of Edinburgh
- The custom of wearing corsets during sleep, its growing prevalence in schools and private families: letters relating to—
- The belles of the United States and their "illusion waists"
- Medical evidence in favour of moderately tight lacing
- Letters from ladies who have been subjected to tight-lacing
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CHAPTER 8: Contents:
Text | No Illustrations
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CHAPTER 9: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
- The elegance of dress mainly dependent on the Corset
- Fashion and dress of 1865
- The short-waisted dresses and trains of 1867
- Tight Corsets needed for short waists
- Letter on the figure
- Description of a peculiar form of Corset worn by some ladies of fashion in France
- Proportions of the figure and size of the waist considered
- The point at which the waist should be formed
- Remarks of the older writers on stays
- Corsets and high-heeled shoes denounced
- Alarming diseases said to be produced by wearing high-heeled shoes
- Mortality amongst the female sex not on the increase
- Extraordinary statistics of the Corset trade
- The Corset of the present day contrasted with that of the olden time
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CHAPTER 10: Contents:
Text and Illustrations | Illustrations Only
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