Figure 1.-- This illustration of a Ferris Good-Sense Corset Waist unfortunstely is not dated. It probably dates from about 1905-10. It depicts a mother helping her daughter to get dressed and allowing her to admire her underwear in a looking glass. Ferris was a well-established American firm that made corsets for women as well as waists for boys and girls. It had headquarters in New York City and advertised prominently in magazines such as" Good Housekeeping" as early as the 1880s. Note that the child's corset waist here seems styled to look like mother's corset. The girl's corset waist does look to be slightly constyricted at the waist, although not aggresively like her mother's corsrt.

We note referenmces to corset waists. An example is a newspaper advertisenent from 1890. Another example is an advertisement for a corset waist in a Good Housekeeping advertisement (1889). We are not entirely sure just what a corset waist was. We thought they might be a juvenile type of corset. We were not at first sure if there was any essential difference between a corset and corset waist. The corset is primarily an adult garment, but we have noted various references to children wearing them. This is especially true of corset waists. We notice corset waists in sizes for children in advertisements and catalogs. We are not entirely sure why children would be dressed in corsets, but believe that it was primarily to mold figures. As best we can tell, the corset swaist was not really a type of coset, but rather just an underwaist. A reader tells us, "The ad refers to it as a corset waist, which is really just one type of underwaist. Unlike most underwaists, however, it has the hose supporters already attached. Corset waists were sometimes worn by younger boys, but the main wearers were girls." We believe that these garments were primarily for girls, but have very little information at this time. Our initial assessment is that corset waists were in part garments that had only minor stiffening and which served some of the functions of a child's underwaists. Other corset waists appear to be really underwaists with out any stiffening at all. As best that we can tell, these corset waists were not a type of corset. There seems to be no attemp at figure shapeing. This seems to be just one of many examples where companies used a variety of terms to describe the same item. Corset waist just seems to be one of the terms usd to describe an underwaist. The question then becomes why did the manufactures call these corset waists. While we do not think figure shaping is involved here, posture correction is a differemt matter. We nore, for example, that ads underwaiss and other stocking supporters sometimes mention posture. And these garments bear some resemblance to corsets.

Chronology

Corset waists for children seem primarily a 19th century garment. We note references to corset waists in late-19th century advertising. An example is a newspaper advertisenent from 1890. Another example is an advertisement for a corset waist in a Good Housekeeping advertisement (1889). There are also references in the early-20th century. After the turn-of the 20th cenntury, however, the term corset generally went out of use in connection with children's under garments. This is a little difficult to assess with perceission as many illustrations we have found are undated, but it does seem to be largely the case. Of course corsets coninued to be widely sold in the 20th century, but not corset waists for children. What is difficult to tell is to what extent this chronological shift was changing usage of the term corset in contrast to the declining acceptance of restrictive form and posture control garments. Inderwaists and suspender waists continued to be widely worn, but these were garments to support pants and hosiery, not primarily to shae the child's body.

Corsets

We are not entirely sure just what a corset waist was. We thought they might be a juvenile type of corset. We were not at first sure if there was any essential difference between a corset and corset waist. The corset is primarily an adult garment, but we have noted various references to children wearing them. This is especially true of corset waists. We notice corset waists in sizes for children in advertisements and catalogs. We are not entirely sure why children would be dressed in corsets, but believe that it was primarily to mold figures. The illustrations do suggest body shazping, but not as drmtically as in the case of women.

Underwaists

As best we can tell, the corset swaist was not really a type of coset, but rather just an underwaist. A reader tells us, "The ad refers to it as a corset waist, which is really just one type of underwaist. Unlike most underwaists, however, it has the hose supporters already attached. Corset waists were sometimes worn by younger boys, but the main wearers were girls."

Gender

We believe that corset waists were primarily for girls, but have very little information at this time. The illustrations with corset waists ads always shwed girls. And we ntice frilly lace andruffled trim. Ferris waists, which seem very similar to the corset waists without the frilly decorationds, were also made in boy models. The boy's model had suspender straps on the back for attachment to knee trousers but was basically similar to the girl's style in having attachments for hose supporters over the hips.

Stifening

Our initial assessment is that corset waists were in part garments that had only minor stiffening and which served some of the functions of a child's underwaists. Other corset waists appear to be really underwaists with out any stiffening at all.

Terminology

As best that we can tell, these corset waists were not a type of corset. There seems to be no attemp at figure shapeing. This seems to be just one of many examples where companies used a variety of terms to describe the same item. Corset waist just seems to be one of the terms usd to describe an underwaist. The question then becomes why did the manufactures call these corset waists. While we do not think figure shaping is involved here, posture correction is a differemt matter. We nore, for example, that ads underwaiss and other stocking supporters sometimes mention posture. And these garments bear some resemblance to corsets. Notice how the little girl's corset waist here looks like mother's actual corset (figure 1). A HBC reader writes, "Yes, even infants (i.e. boys and girls about 2-3 3 years old) did wear corset waists, but chiefly because they needed a garment to support underwear, stockings, and, in some cases, even diapers. The term "corset waist" is a bit confusing because it connotes a body-shaping garment, something desired by older girls and women to give them the fashionable hour-glass figure. But younger children had to wear a waist of some kind, and these garments for younger children (of both genders) were sometimes referred to as "corset waists" by analogy because they also provided the means of attaching hose supporters and other garments. I've noticed, for instance, that in some of the early Sears and Wards catalogs ordinary children's underwaists were sometimes referred to in the indexes as "corset waists." They tended to be advertised in the section of the catalog devoted to women's underwear and corsets because they were manufactured by the same companies and because the main customers were mothers buying both for themselves and for their children. So a "corset waist" doesn't necessarily mean a body-shaping garment. For boys and for very young girls not concerned with the hour-glass figure a "corset waist" is just an underwaist, usually with supporters attached. Even if there was some indentation at the waist, such waists were not necessarily tight or form-fitting." A reader writes, "I don't think the term corset waist necessarily implies anything about posture and body shaping. The term corset simply means that the waist functions in place of a corset for a young child. And the emphasis on the healthiness of wearing such a waist refers to rejection of tightly laced corsets for young children--corsets that would have deleterious effects on the growth of young bodies. The main idea of the corset waist seems to have been a garment that would have the same support functions as a corset but that wouldn't be harmfully confining to the child's body. As your text points out, there is a slight indentation at the waistline, which girls would like because of closely fitted dresses but that wouldn't be uncomfortably restrictive. Although the ad shows hose supporters attached, I'm not sure that the Ferris corset waist normally came equipped with them. The ad mentions buckles for the attachment of supporters, which might have been purchased separately. I think the ad may show the supporters simply to illustrate how hose supporters could be fastened on.

Manufacturers

An important company is Ferris Brothers. The Ferris Company with its "Good Sense" label specialized in undergarments that were healthy for growing children and also for women who were reacting against the older custom of tight-lacing that deformed the body and caused all sorts of posture and health problems in children and adults.

Created: 10:36 PM 3/21/2007
Last updated: 5:22 AM 7/2/2010