A Brief Discussion on Men's Stays

Corsets, stays, posture improvers, health belts....these are a few of the various terms for what I am discussing in this long awaited article.  Each may be slightly different, but all have the effect of narrowing the waist (or containing it, in the case of King George IV), assisting or forcing better posture, or helping support the back much like a modern weightlifting belt does.  In this article, I will be showing a variety of styles from different periods, and discussing them a little. I am /not/ looking deep into the extreme of tight lacing, or all the caricatures of Dandyism which are focused on by other articles, although I will touch briefly on them.  These phenomena existed--there is no doubt about that, given the prevalence of mocking them--but my topic is more the common (if a bit vain) man who needed a bit of help with the fashionable shape, or wore one for back support.

The Invicorator Belt for Men,
1893 English advertisement.

The idea of reshaping your form to the current idea of what is fashionable has been around for a while; without digging too much, you can see it back to the late 14th century, where chest padding and garments tightly fitted to the waist and hips created a pigeon chest; puffed sleeve-heads gave an illusion of broad shoulders in the 15th century (and many other eras as well), and the less said about the extreme peascods of the 1580s--which were built of many layers of padding and some whalebone--the better.  For roughly a couple hundred years, menswear relaxed a bit in regards shaping the body; you still had some shaping and stiffening, but it wasn't generally too extreme, and generally was to support the fabric or fill in a hollow in the human form.  In the 18th century fashions, coats tended towards set back armscyes, which help force the shoulders back and chest out.  This became more extreme as time went on until you started seeing men's stays appear in the third or fourth quarter of the 18th century.  That is not to say men's stays, bodies, or similar didn't appear earlier--but I am still waiting for evidence to show up before recommending the use of such devices to re-enactors.  Clearly, not enough dandies were pushed into bogs for future preservation.  If you are a time traveler reading this, please take pity on costumers and help out with that.

Going through the examples I have gathered, I see three main varieties with some hybridizing.  The lifting-belt version, which would have barely covered the bottom of the ribs; the full stays/corset, which may have been exaggerated into an hourglass figure at times but typically wasn't; and the posture improver, which didn't cover the chest in the front, but had straps and a high back to force your shoulders back.  As all three are on a sliding scale, and hybrids aren't that uncommon--my placement of a few is slightly arbitrary, although the posture improvers do have a unique feature, which you will see.  You also see pants (underwear, not trousers) with a high waist and built in boning to suppress the waist.

"Weight Belt" or Health Belt Style:

By far the most common version I have found, these were typically not all that wide, and did not go too far up the ribcage or down on the hips.  While they did help with flattening the gut, there is also evidence of them being used by active men as back support, much the same as a modern weightlifter's belt.  There may also be some evidence of belts being used for this much earlier in period as well; the Romans and Celts both wore wide belts in the military, which could have been back support (as well as armour)--I want to say there is a reference in The Táin Bó Cúailnge to Fergus's belt holding in his aging gut, but am not sure whether I am remembering that that from an official translation or from one of the retellings I've read.  On the Roman side, there is an extant find of belt fittings, commonly known as the Dorchester Belt which may have helped with a soldier's back support.

The Attire's Mind Facebook page also made mention of Minoan culture having made apparent use of waist cinching belts (based on artwork), and while I don't agree with his speculation that they continued through history from then, it is an interesting thought and a worthwhile page to check out if you are interested in fashion.

USS Constitution, Thomas Chew's Corset

The above is from a naval man in the War of 1812, and is in the USS Constitution museum.  It is a fairly well known piece, and I believe it has been recreated once or twice--it has been on my project list for a while.  The material is polished cotton with whalebone boning for strategic stiffening.  The sides are stiffened by horizontal springs sewn between the two layers, giving some compressive support in the same way you see with modern elastic support belts--something I found to be extremely interesting.

1817 US patent 1,23,650

The patent office is actually a great place to find things like men's corsets, with the caveat that the examples shown may or may not have actually existed and worked.  This example is from 1817; you can see it includes what is presumably whalebone, and what I suspect are spring sides much the same as Thomas Chew's belt.  The wide portion goes to the front, and down, to help tuck in a belly.  Sadly, notes are not available, because the website is terrible--the correct URL is likewise hidden, although my Zotero does go to the correct page.

Reproduction of King George IV.  Link is to image source, but broken.

And an example for more extreme gut suppression, this is a reproduction of the one worn by King George IV at  his coronation in 1821.  It was based on a tailor's cardstock pattern, which I have been unable to find.  I contacted Brighton Museum--which hosted the exhibit the above photo is from--for more information regarding the pattern and making of the reproduction back in April.  Naught but crickets.

And now...from the Workwoman's Guide of 1840.  The book actually has a brief section on men's stays, saying:

These are worn by gentlemen in the army, hunters, or by those using violent exercise. They are made of strong jean, duck, leather, or webbing.

The Workwoman's Guide also mentions the use of elastic, presumably for comfort.  It also goes on to hint that hunters and coachmen sometimes used them, in the form of a "simple leather belt with three tongues and buckles".  I find these to be excellent hints on making, and evidence of them being used for practical reasons, rather than only to tuck in a less than trim waist.

Augusta Auctions: 1860s Men's Truss.    And lady's corset, but that is off topic.

The above belt of leather is noted in the auction entry as being for Hernia support...I.e. A medical device rather than a fashionable item.  I do wish they gave more details about it, but as you can see--relatively narrow, side buckling, and presumably with a small amount of stiffening.

Waist Binder, 1894. LACMA. Accession #M.2007.211.648

Another example, this time made of silk satin;  you can see that this would just give some belly suppression, and not help much with back support beyond the difficulty of slouching with a plate strapped to your belly.  The binder only covered the front of the torso and isn't even 6" tall.  As with the previous example, this waist binder appears to have a rigid plate of /something/ at the center front, but the museum does not make mention of the material.  Or even the existence of whether there is boning in those channels.

Truss Display.  Live Auctioneers.com. 

Live Auctioneer.com.  Health Belt Display

Both of the examples above are from the first portion of the 20th century, and advertized as "Health Belts".  Which, to some degree they are...but I suspect they were primarily purchased as shape-wear for men to get the desired figure of the day.

I do find the fan lacing on the second one to be quite interesting; it appears the straps wrap around, narrow in width, and may be that tie near the top front.  I could be misinterpreting it, however--without seeing the back of the garment, it is purely speculation.  It also appears that the first example may have elastic around the waist?

Germanischen National Museum. Inventory #T6973

And my penultimate example of the belt-ish style, this one of linen herringbone (yum!) and labeled as being from the first half of the 20th century.  It is more marginal in regards to the style--it comes out at being 11.6 inches tall.  Which means that in all likelihood it would cover much of the ribs and perhaps the hips as well, depending on torso length.  Assuming the museum has it displayed the correct way up, that is--I suspect they do, but there is evidence from around the same time (see the French patent in the below section) for a male corset which goes from the bottom of the ribs down below the hips.

Liberty Health Belt, 1930s. 

Another particularly sturdy appearing version in cotton drill and with elastic side panels.  The notes say that this version is extra deep--four inches taller than the standard model.

Full Torso Stays:

I am defining this category as the examples of men's shapewear which are tall enough to cover the wearer roughly from hip level to the underarm.  Having the full length of the torso covered would provide as much support and shaping as is possible.

British Museum. Accession #1915,0313.184

One of the earliest images I have found of a man wearing a set of stays is this one from 1772.  While this is likely a caricature, it isn't as exaggerated as many of the later Macaroni images I have found and which are so prominently featured in other articles on the topic of men's corseting (hence my writing this article).

From the plate, it looks as though the construction is much the same as women's stays of the same time or slightly earlier, with densely packed boning, if without any sign of attempted exaggeration of the hip, nor tabs at the bottom.  He looks a bit uncomfortable, really.

Early 19th Cen Corset.  MET. Accession #2011.105

A lovely example of an early 19th century set of men's stays, with not much information being provided by the museum website.  Because I found this example more and more interesting as I looked closer, I eventually sent the museum an inquiry...and received a reply within a few days.  I will only address the most basic features here, since I intend to publish a blog post specifically on this garment and will go into depth there.

While the museum webpage says the garment is cotton, I believe it is more likely linen.  The construction is extremely simple, and it is apparently made of only two layers of fabric, with no boning.  The verticals seams you see in the front are darts and a pleat.  I'm quite curious as to how well this would work, and may actually recreate it (in my sizing, of course).

Dandies Dressing
Library of Congress. Call #PC 1 - 13062

And because the article wouldn't be complete without one, I present a caricature from 1818.   From here on, I don't see many examples of full length men's corsets or stays until the end of the century.  By no means does that mean they didn't exist--I just haven't found them at this point beyond one or two caricatures from mid-century, such as the one below.

Bibliotheque Municipale de Lyon.  1852

This particular example should be noted as being suspect as to whether he is wearing a corset specifically for men and not a woman's, due to the bottom point and the curves of the front and top edge; men's corsets are typically more or less straight there.  The caption says "When a man tries on a corset"; this could be for curiosity (or fetish), the mildly sadistic amusement of his wife, or menswear.  It is hard to tell, really.

Daily Northwestern, 5/10/1890

 The above is a newspaper sketch from 1890, in the Daily Northwestern.  It's odd for a couple of reasons, but mostly how wide the lacing is in the back.  The inclusion of darts is likewise interesting, but it /is/ just a newspaper sketch, and accuracy should not be expected.

However, on the same webpage and under this image is a clipping from The Fitchburg Sentinel dating to 1874, which is /quite/ interesting.

Corsets for Men.

"The corset is becoming more and more a necessity of the ultra-fashionable man’s toilet, says a New York paper. The latest style of corsets for men look more than anything else like a large-sized belt curved for the hips, and are about ten inches wide. They are made of the same material as a woman’s corset...."

Just another hint that the narrower style of "health belt" stays were more common. 

Madam Dowding's Corsets, 1896

And for a more outré example...this Madam Dowding advertisement showing a couple of gentlemen in wasp-waisted corsets.  Given that this doesn't remotely match the usual silhouette of the 1890s...I suspect that they are best categorized as "fetish wear" and are outside the norm.  The three in the bottom right corner appear to be more standard "belt-style" stays, at least.  A quick bit of research brings up mention of Madam Dowding's company in Fashion and Fetishism: Corsets, Tight-Lacing & Other Forms of Body-Sculpture (David Kunzle, 2004), which would seem to solidify it not being something the average dandy would wear.  I am not going to dig deeper into /that/ since it is outside my topic for this article, and frankly, not of interest to me.

French patent No. 12380

 Above is one of the few "long-line" male corsets I have noted, and apparently with industrial grade garters to boot...this doesn't look practical to me, but I could be wrong.  I have seen a few advertisements from later (this is an 1911 patent), which have similarly low designs but without the "leg corset garters".  After all...menswear in this period was not particularly trying to draw attention to the hip, and smoothing the line from gut to hip would help the eye be drawn to where it was desired.

Posture Improvers: 

These differ from the other styles as being notably higher in the back than in the front, and typically with some kind of straps to pull your shoulders back.  They normally had some waist suppression going on, but that doesn't appear to have been the primary goal of the garment in all cases.

Shoulder Brace Corset, Patent #433,095

 The above patent shows three separate bracing corsets--the primary one is for ladies, but Fig. 2 shows a variation for men and boys with the wide fronted one presumably for the male gut.  Definitely an interesting design, and one which could be beneficial in this age of sitting at computers way too much.

Reast's Patent Invicorator Belt, 1893

The Invicorator Belt appears to be quite similar to the above patent, although an apparently simpler design and with a bit more suppression to the waist.

Nulife Posturite Brace

And an extant posture improver, dating from 1941!  I have seen an example of the same brand and model which was reputedly from 1916, but I since couldn't cite it--the Pinterest link was to EBay--it couldn't get included.  :/

Oddballs:

The last category is for a few oddballs which are not true stays or corsets, but are still shape-wear.

Underwear, The MET.  Accession #1996.233

A curiosity from the last quarter of the 19th century...silk underwear with integrated boning and lacing in the rear.  Quite interesting.  They are also noted as having a split crotch--probably for the best, given all those buttons.

Augusta Auctions.  1920s

Another pair, almost identical in design, from the 1920s. 

Morning Vest, The MET. Accession #2009.300.2744a, b

Obviously, this is not true shapewear...it's a vest or waistcoat from the 1850s.  However--and this is purely my theory--with the shape of the armscyes and the laced boning at the back, I believe it would have given some of the same effects of a garment more dedicated to body shaping...a slight narrowing of the waist, but mostly a touch of back support and forcing your shoulders back.

Conclusion:

All in all, you can see that the majority of examples of male corsets, stays, girdles, health belts, posture improvers...were not all that extreme and were the historical version of Spanx on one side, and modern health or weightlifting belts on the other.  Which really shouldn't be surprising given that the more common women's corset/stay. were the same--to help give the desired silhouette of the period.  I do not believe they were ever as common in dress as women's stays/corsets, as the male version wasn't necessary for bust or garment waistband support (obviously), but only help your figure and possibly be necessary for back support.  One of the things which should be remembered is that...people don't really change, on the whole.  There have always been people who wanted to be ultra-fashionable whether within or beyond their means, and there have always been fashion extremists who--since they're particularly visible in records--can skew the information which we find when looking at the past.
 
One final note: I would encourage re-enactors to not apply the term "Corsets" to historical men's shapewear; while it does appear to be used historically on occasion, the usage of the terms "health belt" or girdle for the narrow varieties, stays for the full torso ones, and posture improvers for that variation will help separate our writings from the modern corsets when future generations of searchers try to find information.  Or do apply it and work towards removing the slight stigma of men wearing corsets.  Either way works, really.

Hopefully this article and overview giving a historical look at men's shape-wear was of help and interest!  If you have comments...well, the comment section is below.

More examples of men's girdles and stays--because I didn't remotely use all of the ones I gathered--can be found in my Pinterest board, Gentleman's Stays.

Bibliography:

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 Some special thanks to my long suffering proofreader Twobears, for working his way through this article.  Hopefully he wasn't too bored.

© John Frey, 2019. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies