Could I PLEASE stop seeing period dramas where women aren’t wearing chemises under their corsets
Also to add- corsets were not because of “patriarchical oppression”. In most cases it was how you held up and supported your boobs with the benefit of shaping your figure at the same time. Just like a bra today. I hate it when some actresses refuse to wear corsets for a role that ABSOLUTELY WOULD HAVE WORN ONE because they’re trying to express their feminism. Like, I get it, it’s 100% okay to express your feminism but for goodness sakes do some historical research about what it actually was before making assumptions
Also, also, please no more “I can’t get into my corset without help” because that’s nonsense. I’m sure there were a lot of rich ladies who were laced in every day but a lot of other women managed to put on corsets themselves just fine. There was a study done in the 1887 about how women laced their corsets and the majority of them didn’t lace it so tightly they couldn’t breathe. In fact most women laced it to a comfortable place, with a 3 to 4 inch gap at the back.
There are so many myths about corsets and I’m passionate about accurate depictions of historical clothing
you can say Emma Watson, it’s okay
I didn’t want to call her out specifically but yeah okay I was thinking of Emma Watson because that made me furious
Let us consider this: can we stop pretending corsets in modern films are about getting a “period-appropriate look,” because if we were going for period-appropriate looks there would also be armpit hair, bad teeth, and smallpox scars. Also if we’re sticking to period constraints Belle wouldn’t have been able to read and the furniture wouldn’t be sentient, so there goes the whole fucking film, aww bye.
Can we also stop pretending corsets were “necessary for supporting boobs,” because literally every other culture on Earth besides Europe’s figured out how to boobs without corsets.
Tightlacing in modern films isn’t about realism. None of these Disney remakes are documentaries trying to recreate the old times. They’re fantasy films about magic. Their ~look~ is about creating the fantasy. And in this case, that fantasy draws on a lot of recycling old-school European beauty norms like tightlacing, which keeps them fresh and aspirational today.
”Who said anything about tightlacing tho?”
Oh idk maybe LITERALLY THE LAST LIVE-ACTION REMAKE DISNEY DID right before Beauty and the Beast
where they did “period-appropriate” tightlacing for a ballgown that doesn’t match any actual period. It’s got an 1860′s skirt profile, princess seams that weren’t invented until the 1870s when that skirt shape was already out of fashion (thnx House of Worth), and rainbow chiffon and rhinestones straight out of the 1980s. GOOD THING WE’VE GOT THAT PERIOD TIGHTLACED DRESS SO WE CAN BE AN AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY ABOUT FAIRIES AND MAGIC PUMPKIN CARRIAGES
and yes, Lily James couldn’t fucking eat while wearing it. For, like, the 12-hour shooting days that you do for a film. Are you really gonna try and tell me that “anorexia is good for business” Hollywood wasn’t gonna try that shit with Beauty and the Beast. Have we even thought about what Emma Watson was asked to do, by a giant corporation that controls a huge slice of the world’s media, before bagging on her for saying no.
Are you really into costumes and like tightlacing? Great! Emma Watson clearly isn’t. If you really believe you should be able to wear that because you like it, you should also support people who choose not to wear it because they don’t like it. That’s what supporting choice means. It’s not Emma Watson’s job to make lifestyle choices that match other people’s personal hobbies.
kudos to Emma Watson for not putting up with Disney’s bullshit. She had the star power to say no and she fucking went for it. I mean, how the fuck are you supposed to be a public figure working with the UN on women’s rights and “let’s stop female genital mutilation in Africa and the Middle East” but you’re all aboard the “it’s painful body modification but it’s ok because it’s from Europe and it’s cute” tightlacing train. what the fuck. Get it Emma Watson
reblogging for the last comment because HECK YES.
also I just have to— “corsets were not because of “patriarchical oppression”. In most cases it
was how you held up and supported your boobs with the benefit of
shaping your figure at the same time.“
who do you think these women ‘shaped their figure’ FOR
Death By Catchphrase 