DEAR SIR, I don’t know whether the idiot signing herself “Tight Lacer” has newly escaped from a lunatic asylum, but, in view of the lifelong injury her letter may cause silly young girls to inflict on themselves, I hope you’ll insert this. I am now thirty, and sensible, but at sixteen I was just such … Continue reading Opponent of Tight-Lacing
Dear Sir, – For a considerable time past I have been a regular reader of your fascinating paper, and although a “mere man,” have been very interested in the correspondence re corsets. It appears to me that, as in many other good things, the real charm of the corset is somewhat prejudiced by extremists in … Continue reading The Charm of the Corset
Dear Sir, Many thanks for the really splendid photograph of the bevy of unshingled girls, which my wife has added to her collection of interesting cuttings from “London Life.” I myself find it difficult to reconcile a closely cropped head with the truly feminine woman, and I have never ceased to admire my wife and … Continue reading Long Hair and Tiny Waists
Dear Sir, – The modern Chinese girls are very up-to-date in their dress and manners, but rarely converse with Europeans as they find English very difficult to understand and learn. Consequently it is a bar to us fellows in the army who would be pleased to know them as companions, but marriage is quite out … Continue reading Fashions in China
Dear Sir, – In the present controversy in your periodical on wasp waists, I notice that, of the opponents of tight lacing, only one has actually given a fair trial and had to abandon it. Let us get rid of all this talk about the health suffering when the figure is laced. Even medical men … Continue reading A Defence of the Wasp Waist
Dear Mr. Editor, – Following my avocation in a tobacco kiosk, recently, I heard a gentleman remark to another that the chief attraction used to be the neat-waisted ladies who supplied their needs, and who he deplored, were now no more to be seen. The remark set me thinking, with the result that I determined … Continue reading Smart Dress Smartens Up Business
Dear Sir, – I have been in the trade for about forty years, and have seen a few monstrosities in my time, but never anything to equal “E. B.” of New York’s fifteen inches by six. A fifteen-inch waist was quite common twenty years ago, and few people today can realise to what lengths women … Continue reading A Corsetiere On Corsets
To the Editor, LONDON LIFE. DEAR SIR, Yes, if they are proportionate, but not when, as one sees so often, there is strong evidence of tight-lacing that, in my opinion, gives an ugly look to the figure at once. Anyone who has really studied the question must know that no man can really admire in … Continue reading Do Men Admire Wasp Waists?
Dear Sir, – “Tight Lacers” views aroused the ire of so many readers that I am sure you will, with your well-known courtesy, allow me to say a word in her favour. I fully agree with “Tight Lacer” and “Primrose Long” that a girl who is gradually laced in from an early age, experiences little … Continue reading Healthy Although Laced
Dear sir, – I knew a young lady some years ago, who was an extreme tight-lacer. She was twenty-six years old when I first became acquainted with her, and she had been very tightly laced since she was ten years old. To create a severe figure, she cultivated a “pipe” waist, the stem of which … Continue reading The “Stove-Pipe” Waist