in the 1500s corsets were iron, and may have been worn for orthopedic purposes. By the 1800–1900s doctors blamed them (without proof) for cancer, hysteria, tuberculosis and scoliosis. Corset wearers signaled wealth and respectability—tightly laced women were thought chaste. After the Revolution and later WWI, boned corsets gave way to elastic undergarments. The corset never vanished but was reinvented repeatedly—the punk era, Madonna, Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood kept them at the forefront of fashion.

Today, corsets appear in wedding gowns, graduation attire, festival outfits and, of course, with BUFFALO HEIFER LINGERIE CO.!