Once up on a time, the corset was seen as a normal foundation garment to a western woman’s daily wear. Nowadays we prefer the freedom to be more active and not restricted by such garments. However there is still a demand for corsets. Sometimes when I tell people the price of a tailor-made corset they usually reply “oh gosh that is a lot!” and then go on to tell me about a corset they saw in a shop that cost only 30€. My first question is usually “Was it a real corset?” and the customer usually shrugs. I explain that a lot of skill and art goes into creating a real corset. A cheap corset looks nice on the manaquin but if you were to really try and pull that corset tight a few times, problems will occur. For example, bones poking out or eylets falling off. Most times the material used is very cheap and are probably manufactured in China. This is how shops can afford to offer a corset for such a cheap price, but after you try and pull it tight on two occassions or more, I’m sure the fabric will start to fray and the bones will start showing through.
With a good quality corset this problem should not occur and you can wear your corset for many years because the quality and strength of the fabric will be simular to the Victorian methods of corsetry, using Cortil as the stong fabric to stand the stress of tight lacing. The Victorians used whale bone in their corsets, but today this is illegal and instead steel boning is used, such as spiral boning which made its way into corset usage from around 1910-1930s because it was more flexible than the rigid steel boning.
In a good quality corset there will be a strong steel busk, spiral bones, straight steel bones for the back where you lace and strong eyelets. Furthermore, a higher price means you get a corset that is tailored to your exact measurments rather than a cheaper one bought straight off the rail that might not cover the tummy properly or that gives that unflattering ‘too much bust spilling over the top of your corset’ effect!
I believe we are entering a new dawn, where quality wins over quantity and being cheap is not at all the main priority. All corsets produced at Miss Moss Corsets are made from high quality fabrics imported from England, silks from Italy and steel from Germany. If you are intersted in a custom-made corset please get in touch and i’ll send you our sizing chart. Corsets can be sent to anywhere in the world!