New York Renaissance Faire

Over hundreds of years, the bodice, which was initially simply a waist cincher and support, evolved into the more complex boned garment known as the corset. The popularity of the corset began to take off in Renaissance Venice, where ladies of fashion, aided by heavy boning within their garments, strived for a straight conical torso, high neckline, and flat chest. The corset has been worn by the society ladies of the high Renaissance, as well as the respectable middle-class women of the Victorian era. The Renaissance was a period of padding, pulling, and pushing into yet more extreme cone-shaped bodices with tiny low waists. The corset gives instant, yet temporary, body modification while support, deportment, and an elegant grace are the side effects of the upright alignment of the spine. As a consequence, corset wearers look taller and feel stronger, the “inner goddess” is freed, the internal beauty and power of a woman liberated.*

Chemises were worn under all gowns, bodices and skirts. Ladies of the period wore chemises to absorb perspiration and oils to protect their more costly outer garments. My Lilith’s Kiss Corset is a stunning addition to my Renaissance wardrobe. The provocatively conical shape of this corset summons to mine the unearthly beauty of an ancient goddess, heavenly radiant with an otherworldly sheen. It is made in an embossed faux alligator leather with gold glitter accents throughout the fabric. Gushing with ornate, European-style elegance, the scalloped, eyelash lace sewn around the waist has a removable cameo brooch framed with pearls at the center front. The elegant lining is a red silk duchesse satin with a luminous sheen that sits softly against my skin.