Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1914 — USE AND ABUSE OF CORSET [ARTICLE]

USE AND ABUSE OF CORSET

Tight Lacing Has Always Been Considered One of the Worst Foes of Feminine Beauty.

At the root of the ills to which feminine flesh is heir is incorrect corseting and tight lacing. These are by no means synonymous terms. One may be incorrectly yet loosely corset ed, says Harriet Edwards Fayes, In Woman’s World. -

Today it is the exceptional woman who laces her corset so tightly that her figure assumes an unnatural contour. Ten years ago many women did. This improvement is to some degree to the credit of the wearers of corsets, but to a still greater degree it is to the credit of corset manufacturers and the mandates of fashion. Women who have just regard for their health and beauty realize that the normal waist measurement is an Important adjunct thereto. This is proved by the fact that all ready-made garments rffe. two Inches larger around the waist than ’.hey were two years ago, which means that most women who used to wear a 22 corset now wear a 24, and so on through the different sizes. Leading physicians all admit that women require support for the abdomen. Support Is entirely different from suppression. If the abdomen is suppressed, a lot of trouble is brought on, the first sign of which is constipation. More depends upon the colon than most people are aware of, even some physicians. The direct results of'restricting the action of the colon are weakness, insomnia and dyspepsia; the indirect results are too numerous to mention and would be super'

fluous, because the prevailing styles in corsets conform in a great degree to nature’s ‘demands. The wise physician raises his voice not against the use, but the abuse of the corset. A corset which supports the abdomen will never be condemned by those who are conversant with the structure of the human body, maaculine or feminine.