And yet this archaic undergarments still dominates high fashion street style and even the cover of vogue.

So just how did the corset make its way from the waste of mary Antoinette for the modern cultural zeitgeist.

I'm Hamish.

Bowles vogue's Global editor at large and I'm here to tell you everything you need to know about The corset.

Legend has it that the introduction or rather mandate?

Of course, it wearing came from Catherine de Medici who allegedly brought metal corsets from Italy to France in the 16th century, though, costume historians believe that corsets were initially used to support the spine.

The 17th century found women and some men of a certain class and distinction wearing them for well fashioned.

Soon they became the status quo and by the 1830s, the hourglass silhouette for fashionable women and some dandified men was all the rage in Europe and America way before the era of the Kardashian waist trainer.

These ladies were in search of an 18" waist with the help of whale bone stays tight lacing and padding, It was a one size fits all solution to creating the perfect figure.

Of course, the course it had its critics.

By the late 19th century dress reformers argued that corsets were not only morally evil, but dangerous to women's health.

Some doctors blame the course it's tightness for causing damage to internal organs.

No wonder that most Victorian women were not smiling in their portraits, But pain wasn't enough to stop the corset on its course, the first decade of the 20th century championed the s curve or health corset, which was lightly boned, un boned or stiffened with chord.

In other words, slightly less painful.

It forced the torso forward while judging the woman's hips and bottom out behind her.

And even more shapes came into the fold in the teens.

In the 19 twenties, paris is king of fashion paul Poiret, for example, rejected the era's s curve, the invention of elastic to allowed for a new tubular corset, which made more sense for the loose flowing dresses of the flapper era.

But as with every trend, the comfortable kick of the 19 twenties proved temporary.

As the allure of the classic hourglass silhouette became irresistible for designers in the pre and post World War Two era ma'am.

Bush's late 19 thirties.

Wasp waist design immortalized in photographer Horst, p horst, iconic image and christian Dior structured new look of 1947.

Once again, constricted and reshaped women's bodies and redefine the fashion silhouette.

The corset took a backseat to modern waste shifting practices like diet exercise and surgery in the sixties and seventies.

It was from here that the use of the course of in fashion went from practical to purely aesthetic Vivienne Westwood's use of the corset was evocative of punk here.

The course it was used to empower women rather than constrain them and dodging Gabbana's debut corset dress in 1989 updated the undergarment for a modern take on femininity, which went on to define the brand for years to come, jean paul.

Gautier also took up the course it in his early eighties collections.

But his most famous iteration came in 1990 designed for Madonna's blond ambition, tour the peace, ignored soft womanly curves and instead opted for jagged, spikey lines.

This was a clear departure in defiance from the patriarchal demands of its forebears and a nod to the B.

D.

S.

M.

Community and jean paul's grandmother and childhood teddy bear.

Soon, every designer from christian Lacroix, thierry, Mugler air and alexander McQueen wanted to cause it of their own and they knew just the man for the job.

Mr Pearl, the king of corsetry.

It was Mr Pearl after all, whose controversial course it got kim Kardashian In her head turning Terry Mugler Gown at the 2019 met Gala.

Today, the court, it is a piece that refuses to remain backstage.

Well under the garment, Kendall, Jenner Dua lipa and Bella Hadid have embraced their own as streetwear, pairing them with baggy jeans and trainers and even over t shirts, they've taken this 17th century relic and turned it into a casual gem, the avant garde interpretations of turmoil, koizumi Christopher, john Rogers and puppets and puppets to showcase that the causes of 2021 is less a stricture and more playful edition to the modern wardrobe.

While the ladies of Bridget in than the tight lacing trends that followed on Tiktok, expand the humorous take on the garment.

So where will, of course it go next?

Will it regress into an uncomfortably binding piece of history once meant to similarly shape all wearers?

Or will it continue to evolve?

Spanx and skims have replaced?

The need for corsetry is painful practices and favor diversified sizing.

If there's anything we've learned throughout the course, it's history, it's that there's no need to be so uptight.