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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

[rjw76]

I can put a corset on and tighten it fully without aid from another person, and am not especially flexible, but do have longer than average arms and better than average fine motor control.
There are better and worse ways of lacing a corset to make this easier; my preferred method is to start the laces from the top and run them to the bottom with a loop pulled out by lacing out and back on the *same* side at the waist (it needs to be on the waist!) which I then tie in a bow. http://corsets.matazone.co.uk/information.php?info_id=14 is a good diagram but NO you do not pull out the loop in the middle of the holes, you pull out the loop on the *narrowest part of the corset* which will be sitting on your waist.
All this means you have a loop to pull on to do the tightening, which is easier for most people than a lace end, and also means that the lacing will have least slippage at the waist, which is generally what you want.
In addition, a custom corset will be easier to lace yourself than an off-the-rack one, because it is the same shape as your body. This means that the corset will be tightened equally all the way up and down rather than the approximation you get from an off-the-rack unless you *just happen* to be the right height and width for it.