Bone (corsetry)

In corsetry, a bone is one of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame and gives it rigidity.

The purpose of the boning in a corset varies slightly from era to era. Generally, the cinching/shaping properties of corsetry puts strain onto the fabric from which the corset is made. The boning supports the desired shape and prevents wrinkling of the corset fabric. Bones, and the substances used for the purpose, are often generically called boning.

The corsets of the 16th through 18th centuries (called "stays", "bodies" or "corps") were intended to mold the upper torso into a rigid cone like shape. The earliest corsets had a wooden busk placed down the center fronts of the corsets. (These early busks were different from the newer, steel busks which have clasps to open and close.) Corsets of the 17th and 18th centuries were most often heavily boned with little or no space between the bone channels. This was necessary to force the body to conform to the desired shape of the era. At the time, the most popular materials used for the boning were Giant reeds or whalebone.

The early 19th century brought a very different style of corset (still called "stays"). A return to the natural or classical form was embraced by fashion and for the first time in corset history the bust was separated. To achieve and enhance the separation of the bust the "busk" was used. The busk was essentially a large rigid "Popsicle stick" shaped bone inserted into a casing down the center front of the corset. These busks were made from either wood, ivory, bone, or baleen and were often elaborately carved and given as gifts. It was most often the only bone within corsets of this type as other required shaping was provided by cut of the pattern and enhanced with cording (cotton or similar cords within casings). The cording of the early 19th-century corsets (stays) was often very elaborate, and there are many beautiful corded stays to be found in museums.

The mid 19th century brought more complex corsets (no longer called stays) and tighter lacing, which required more boning to create the desired shape. The modern busk was popular allowing corsets to easily open in the front. Steel and baleen (whalebone) were the dominant materials for boning and were occasionally used together. By the fourth quarter of the 19th century baleen was growing increasingly more expensive and becoming more difficult to acquire. This encouraged experimentation into types of materials used for boning. Some of the most popular alternatives were cork strips, cording, watchspring steel, Coraline, and Featherbone. Coraline was manufactured from the straight, stiff fibers of the Mexican ixtle plant, bound together by two strands of thread wrapped in opposite directions. Featherbone was manufactured from the quills of feathers. The extremely rigid and elongated torso popular in the 1880s to early 1890s required extensive boning to support and enhance the steam-molded and starched corsets of the period.

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Wikipedia