The Fashion of 1865.
CHAPTER IX.
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.
We could very easily add letters enough to occupy the remaining portion of this work, all incontestably proving that slender waists are, notwithstanding that which some few writers have urged to the contrary, held in high esteem by the great majority of the sterner sex.
Without the aid of the corset, it has been very fairly argued, no dress of the present day could be worn, unless its fair possessor was willing to submit to the withering contempt of merciless society. The annexed illustration represents a lady dressed in the fashion of the close of 1865, and there are few who would be unwilling to admit its elegance and good taste. One glance at the contour of the figure is sufficient to show the full influence of the modern form of corset on the adjustment of this style of costume, and it would be a waste of both time and space to represent the figure in its uncultivated form similarly arrayed. In 1867, we find a strong tendency towards the short waists, low dresses, and long trailing trains of old times, and we are forcibly reminded, when contemplating the passing caprice, of the lines from a parody on the "Banks of Banna"—