Breathe in. Corsets are back.

By Jennifer Grogan. March 15th, 2005

Sara Skluzacek skeptically examined a white lace corset at Bloomingdale’s in New York. She twirled the removable garter straps. “It looks like something a prostitute would wear,” she said.
The sales woman assured her that it would look sexy with jeans and high heels, and after Skluzacek tried it on, she was convinced.
“It makes me look hot,” said Skluzacek, 29, a New York public school teacher, while admiring her reflection in the dressing-room mirrors. “I think I’d totally wear it to a bar or a party.”

Corsets, the restrictive, waist-pinching bodices popular a century ago, are making a comeback, as designers like Donna Karan, Proenza Schouler and Marc Jacobs use them in their lines and women like Skluzacek decide they like the look or want a little extra support to hold everything in. While some say this is just a fanciful way to accentuate the curves of an idealized female form, others warn that corsets pose health risks and threaten women's self-esteem.
That is not stopping women from lacing up their corset dresses and shirts for a night on the town or a more provocative business look.

“There’s a structure so you feel very put together,” said Patti Cohen, a spokeswoman for Donna Karan. “It’s really articulating the body, but in a modern way.”
The corsets that were popular during the Victorian era were stiffened with whalebone, wooden splints or steel. Women laced them as tight as possible to see how small they could make their waists, but the pressure restricted blood flow and they often fainted. The look went out of style in the early 1900s, but it recently reappeared on the runways and in movies like "Moulin Rouge," starring a corset-clad Nicole Kidman.
Today’s corsets are lighter and less restrictive, said Bonnie Morrison, a spokeswoman for Proenza Schouler. “I think even women who chafe at the idea of wearing a corset because of the connotation and how confining they once were find them extremely easy to wear,” she said.
Medical professionals still worry about the health risks. “The back muscles can become reliant on external support, and if you apply too much pressure on the abdomen, it can create acid reflux and a variety of other stomach problems,” said Dr. Drew DeMann, a spine specialist with Manhattan Spine and Sports Medicine.
He said corsets can provide support, but he prefers a back brace for his patients. “I’ve never prescribed a corset,” he said.
Other doctors advise diet and exercise for a slimmer waist.
“If you’re going to eat at Wendy’s and then put on your corset, it’s a problem,” said Dr. Anthony Starpoli, director of the Center for Reflux Disease at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York.

Cathie Jung, 67, of Old Mystic, Conn., said she has never had a health problem even though she wears a corset almost all the time.
She first tried one on in her 40s, when she noticed how age and childbirth were affecting her body. “It gave me a defined waistline and a nice little hourglass shape,” she said.
Her 26-inch waist began to curve inward because the corset was so tight, so she laced it tighter and wore smaller corsets until she reached her current measurement: a mere 15 inches, the smallest waist of any living adult, according to her entry in the "Guinness Book of World Records."
“It has been a long time now, 25 years of tight lacing, so I don’t think I even look different,” she said.
Her husband, Robert, a retired orthopedic surgeon, said the corset is actually good for her.
“The disks in a person’s back wear with time as part of the aging process,” he said. “The corset prevents that. You’d never see a Victorian woman who was stooped over.”
But Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, said the corset is another example of how fashion defies common sense.
“Fashion has never been a great friend to women,” she said. “Throughout history, clothes and shoes have been impractical and painful. A few years ago it was the stiletto heels, which verged on dangerous. Now with the corset being in fashion, it makes some women think that they have to have a slim waist to look attractive.”
Jung has decided that she’s slim enough, and has no plans to trade in her corset for a smaller size again. Also, it’s getting expensive. She pays $200 to $300 for a basic custom-made corset and a fancier one, made out of leather, can cost $1,000. She has 30 that she wears regularly. Her dresses are also tailored because the ones off the rack do not fit someone who is 5 feet 6, 135 pounds and has a waist the size of a coffee can.
“We don’t have a bottomless pit of money so I have to draw the line somewhere,” she said. “Plus, it looks unique enough the way it is.”
For Skluzacek, money was also an issue as she decided not to spend $98 on the corset she liked.
“I feel funny now because everything’s hanging out instead of stuffed in there,” she said. “I’m going to have to find a cheaper version. I have a jacket that would look great with it.”