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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

[dadcastellanos]

I can do it without another person but it's more uncomfortable, esp since my chest is pretty large & requires juggling. I have a ... not a proper corset but something I forget the name of that is front-fastening, and once it's PROPERLY laced (which does need another person for me bc I can't reach back there) it can just be taken off/put back on w hooks alone.

also I'm going to go w the comment above me - the doorknob/coathanger thing is probably a jab at poorer people w no money for maids - but tbh I can't fathom using a doorknob or a coathanger to put on a corset so this is boggling to me, haha.

[kaberett]

Bustier, perhaps?

As I've just said to sebastienne, all of the contexts in which I'd seen the doorknob/coathanger thing suggested were ones that were contemporary, and clearly intended to be supportive and encouraging (including having it said to me at least once) so I'm pretty sure it's not (always) a class thing.

As I have also worked through above (sebastienne is great okay) I think this might actually turn out to be a mix of "I have pathologically mobile shoulders" and "I don't always do a brilliant job of discerning the scope to which a stated thing applies", heh. Which! I am enjoying working out. :-)

(The "as I've said above" is "I go into a bit more detail there if you're interested but there's no particular reason you'd actually notice my having done so" rather than... any of the other things it could be, for clarity.)

[dadcastellanos]

YES, bustier. I always forget what it's called until literally it is on my body, ahaha.

that's interesting! I still .. just cannot fathom how that would even work, but that's good to hear. & I feel you on the discerning scope thing, I'm bad at that too. =w=

(XDD gotcha!)