In the past few years corsets have seen a trend resurgence on all levels of fashion, showing up all over the 2023 Autumn/Winter Couture shows. Though corsets have long been out of common functional use, they have seen the runway many times in the last century, fronting the latest in fashion many times over. Let's take a look at some of the most iconic fashion corsetry moments from haute couture, starting with a design that drastically changed fashion upon its release.
In 1947, Dior released the 'New Look' (pictured above), completely rerouting the course of fashion and defining the iconic silhouette of the 1950s. The design featured a corseted jacket giving the illusion of an exaggerated hourglass figure. Dior used the corset as a way to embrace femininity in the post-war years and expand it into a lifestyle, reimagining the elegant '50s housewife.
Our next corset jumps over 50 years to 1998, however has roots much older. In his Spring/Summer 1998 collection, Alexander Mcqueen featured the bone corset (pictured above), designed by jewellery designer Shaun Leane for the collection. The corset referenced back to Schaeparelli's 1938 design, the Skeleton Dress. Mcqueen's collection focused on crossovers between fashion and surrealist art, so referncing Schaeparelli, who was heavily involved in the original surrealism movement, was a must. Today we still see reiteration of the both the Skeleton dress and the bone corset, pushing the original design further with modern technonolgy.
Our final corset comes from this year's couture shows, sure to be a memorable design in Schaeparelli's archives. Schaeparelli is no newbie when it comes to corsetry. The design house has a longstanding history of iconic corseted looks, but this year they featured a few more paired-back designs, putting the elegance of a well made corset front and centre.
Fashion is cyclicle, constantly referencing itself and reimagining the past. The corset is proof that what was once an iconic fashion moment will soon be again, potentially through the lens of a new designer or a new technology, but always the same idea at the core.
Watch this video to see Schaeparelli's full 2023 Autumn/Winter Couture show and all their corseted looks.