Corselet
A corselet or corselette is type of foundation garment which is a brassiere and girdle in one. It will sometimes have lace in front or in the back. The name is a taken from the word corset with the diminutive "-ette".
It is also the name of a piece of body armor for the torso, and it usually consists of a breastplate and back piece.
History
The corselette began to replace the corset in 1914 as a substitute for wearing two separate pieces, such as a corset and a brassiere or a girdle and a brassiere.
The bust uplift cups were first used in 1933, but came to common use in 1943.
Merry widow
In 1955 a corselette by Warner's was released and named after The Merry Widow, an operetta from 1905 that later became a Hollywood movie. This new merry widow featured demi-cups and a shorter girdle compared to its predecessors.
The original merry widow foundation garment was also a corselette that incorporated slim panels of black elastic yarn net. A heavy-duty zipper was inserted behind a velvet-backed hook-and-eye flange, and the whole garment was lined with nylon voile. Nine long spiral wires were cased in black satin.
Lana Turner is quoted as having said, "I am telling you, the merry widow was designed by a man. A woman would never do that to another woman."
To this day, "merry widow" is the generic term for a corselette bra in the United States. This type of lingerie is also known as a torsolette, and is used in bridal lingerie, similar to the bustier.
Interval and rebirth
About 1960, tights and trousers began to replace corselettes. But, from about 1975 to the present day, Maidenform and other mainstream lingerie and undergarment manufacturers have sold corselettes as "control slips".
Variations and relatives
A bustier is like a corselet without garters or shoulder straps.
A bodice, historically, is an article of clothing for women, covering the body from the neck to the waist. In modern usage it typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from the skirt and sleeves. Bodices survive into modern times in the traditional or revived folk dress of many European countries (for example the Austrian dirndl).
A corsage is either a synonym for the bodice of a dress, or refers to a less-tight variant of a corset, such as a bridal corset.
A basque is a type of bodice characterized by a close, contoured fit and extending past the waistline over the hips.
A torsolette is is a lingerie corselet, typically featuring decorative front or back lace-up detail.
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