The story so far:
Here is the specific block of text that really got my curiosity up, this is
copied from en.wikibooks.org; it's one of the hits I got when I did a google
image search for "iron corset"
--copied text follows--
Iron corsets are Victorian Era corsetcovers made of metal. There are several in
museum collections.
It is sometimes claimed that these were the everyday wear of women and girls
throughout Europe in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. But they are
more likely to be orthopedic instruments used by a very few women whose posture
was not considered acceptable by the health and beauty standards of the time.
* It is likely that the Iron Corset was originally a type of armour worn
only by men.
* The fact is as the "iron corset" was used both of men and women, but only
on dress occasions. The iron was heavy, but the dress was also heavy, and the
iron was padded underneath like armour. The silk of that time was very expensive
but of poor quality and stretched poorly. It looked beautiful on the shining
metal. The iron corset also worked as a bulletproof waistcoat, because
assassination by knife in heart was a common risk.
* The padded "iron corset" and armour was known as a corset on women, and a
waistcoat (vest) on men.
--end copied text--
This block, or portions of it, is used on any number of websites. I'd like to
know where these ideas came from. Not in this text is the idea that the iron
corset was invented by the de Medici's, or that Catherine wore one to achieve
her 13 inch waist, though that's another common theme. The iron corsets I've
located so far are as follows:
http://dept.kent.edu/museum/costume/bonc/4subjectsearch/lingerie/lingerie18th/lingerie18.html
one in the sex machines museum (you have been warned)(not actually sexually
explicit) in the "sex machines gallary" http://www.sexmachinesmuseum.com
http://employees.oneonta.edu/angellkg/RENAISSA.HTML near the bottom of the page.
This one is in the Cluny museum?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Iron_corset two more, as well as
duplicates and drawings.
http://web.archive.org/web/20050302121500/http://greatdayamerica.com/style/fashion/lycracorset.shtml
http://www.staylace.com/unsortedjpgs/iron.jpg I *think* this one is in the
Wallace Collection
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/fall99/bendlin/page2.html one new and
one repeat
and finally
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13444/13444-h/13444-h.htm#page101
which is a facimile of a book published in 1920 which includes variations on the
de Medici comments.
I have some theories, any or all of which may be true. I think some of the
corsets may have been shop signs or orthopedic devices. I think some of them
might have been victorian reproductions or fetish objects. (I have at least one
victorian "naughty" picture of a woman in an iron corset--it is a "medieval"
costume)
I welcome any thoughts anybody else might have.
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