The purpose of this study was to analyze changes to body measurements and silhouettes after wearing an early 19th century women’s corset. Two types of corsets were tested. Changes in body size and silhouette were compared based on the levels of tightening strength of the corset. The tightening strength was adjusted in 4 steps by making the length of back fastening string 10-40 cm shorter than the standard. The silhouette was compared with the front silhouette and the side silhouette. The results were as follows. After wearing the experimental 19th century corsets, the chest circumference and front interscye length increased. However, the chest circumference did not increase proportionally to the tightening strength. The underbust circumference, waist circumference, and back interscye length also decreased. The waist width was decreased to create a slim front silhouette. The change in the body silhouette differed depending on the style of the experimental corset. The experimental corset made with the six-piece torso pattern changed the posture so that the shoulders were pulled back and the chest was pushed forward. The experimental corset with the side bodice pattern resulted in the subject’s shoulders reclining backward and the chest and abdomen extending forward. The results of this study show that women’s body sizes and silhouettes could be changed by wearing the early 19th century corsets, but the changes in body size and silhouette vary depending on the wearer's individual body type or corset style.

Entering the twentieth century, corsets began to disappear with the tendency of concentrating on slim bodies and youth. As corsets proceeded to be discarded, they began to be internalized as a means of controlling the body; 'muscular corset' takes hold. However, the internalized corset increasingly appears to be externalized again in contemporary fashion. This study investigates how natural body is reconstructed as socio-cultural image drawing on the relationship between the signifier and signified of corset. As for the research methodology this study conducts literature survey to investigate the internalization of corset. This study proceeds to examine the subjects of fashion collections from 1980 to 2010 and samples the outfits which represent the externalization of corset through case analysis. Through the discussion of the study, the relationship of signifier and signified in the externalization of corset is argued as follows: first, by maintaining signifier and signified of the traditional corset as underwear, aggressive eroticism of corset has been observed, second, by perceiving corset as the agency of the body, fetishism of corset dissociates the function of sexual object from corset while distorting the relationship of signifier and signified, third, through embodying the notion of muscular corset literally, the ironical representation of corset as a torturing device of female body deconstructs the traditional relation of signifier and signified of corset.

This study examined the muscle recruitment order during extension of the hip joint in normal subjects, and evaluated whether the external support obtained from wearing a lumbosacral corset had an effect on muscle recruitment leading to increased lumbar stability. The subjects were 40 normal adults (32 male, 8 female) with no history of low back pain and no pathological findings in the nervous or musculoskeletal systems. All subjects extended their hip joints under 3 positions (prone, sidelying, standing). During extension, the onsets of contraction of the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, and semitendinosus muscles were measured. Electromyographic activity was measured using a surface electrode, and the muscle contraction onset time was designated as the point exceeding a threshold of 25 ms, using a mean plus twice of the standard deviation. To compare the average order of muscle contraction onset time, a Freedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks was used. The relative difference between muscle contraction onset time wearing and not wearing a lumbosacral corset was measured using a paired t-test. A difference in the average muscle contraction onset order for the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, and semitendinosus muscles was observed (p<.05) among three positions. However, wearing a lumbosacral corset did not. change the contraction order. In addition, wearing a lumbosacral corset produced a significant difference (p<.05) in the relative onset time between the rectus abdominis and gluteus maximus in the standing position, but no difference was observed for the other muscles or positions. In the future, patients suffering from low back pain should be compared with normal subjects to determine the effectiveness of a lumbosacral corset in changing muscle recruitment order.