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[kaberett]

So I have spent Several Years being utterly perplexed at the idea that it's impossible to put a corset on without help from a second person.

It has literally only just occurred to me that my complete bafflement on the topic might be because my shoulders are hypermobile.

Is-- is that it? Is that why there's this bizarre incomprehensible cultural meme that the only way you can possibly put a corset on solo is with the aid of a coathanger and a doorknob? ENLIGHTEN ME, INTERNET.

Comments

[sebastienne]

It's definitely a learnable skills for non-hypermobile people (eg, me) though as other commenters have pointed out, it needs to have a front busk and centred lacing on the back (but tbh any other configuration of corset is DUBIOUS and PROBABLY PLASTIC-BONED anyway).

But obviously, not everybody has a burlesque-performing alter-ego and needs to put in the time to learn like I did. And even those of us who can self-corset might find it easier or more fun to have someone else help out... so there are motivations for asking for help other than just, "I can't do this alone" IYSWIM

As for the coathanger/doorknob stuff, I've never really come across that so probably shouldn't comment.. but my instinct is that a meme like that could have originated from mocking people who were too poor to afford a ladies' maid? Or if it's a more modern thing, perhaps from SERIOUS tight-lacers who just need more force than they can reasonably pull backwards from themself?

[naath]

I have a variety of not-corsets (mostly 16th century stuff) that lace, and the sort with just a back lace are impossible for me to manage alone, side lacing I can just about do but it HURTS and frustrates so I usually use a veeeeeeeeeeeery long lace that I leave in (like srsly, 10' or so) then I can wiggle in and out and then tug it tight which is frustrating, but less so (some people are more wiggly than me too, I have wide hips and shoulders compared to my waist, which doesn't help, and I'm not very flexible). Of course front lacing is massively easier to do alone, which is why back-laced gowns are a sign of status...

[kaberett]

Coathanger/doorknob: something I have more-than-once seen given as supportive advice in a contemporary setting to people who didn't have help getting corsetry on available, including on one occasion directly to me. Definitely not about class/maids in the contexts I've met it!

I absolutely get motivations for asking for help other than "I can't do this alone" (and indeed have asked for help for several of those reasons!) -- it's just that pre-Lashings-exposure I had seen a lot of (as I say, obviously well-meaning encouraging supportive) advice suggesting that it was unusual or impossible to get corsets on yourself and you shouldn't expect to be able to (and weren't a failure if you couldn't, is the key thing).

The reason this post happened is I saw something similar go by on the internet earlier and abruptly realised that having a much larger range of motion than population normal even in my good shoulder might be some of the disconnect I was experiencing there.

I mean, I think some more of it is once again "I've seen a slightly weird set of advice" and possibly also "I saw a bunch of stuff aimed at people who hadn't really had much experience getting into corsets and took it to be General Statements About The World due to failure to detect context", but. I don't know! Monkeys are hard.

(<3)