Buying For Your Body
When it comes time to actually plan your corset purchase, you must consider two more things. What is your natural shape, and what are your accurate measurements?
Those two questions can take precedence over many other questions and considerations, like design and budget, or ready-to-wear vs. custom, because in order to have a prayer of finding a corset that not only looks the way you want it to, but also fits and is comfortable, you need to take those two things into consideration. If you are looking at ready-to-wear sites, you may very well find that the perfect corset you picked out isn’t available in a size or shape that is compatible with your body. That’s completely normal, because we are each uniquely shaped, and when you are looking at a garment that is not only form-fitting, but form-altering and rigid, it needs to fit you perfectly in order to be completely comfortable. There are so many ready-to-wear designers out there that if you look hard enough, you’ll probably find something that is compatible with your natural shape, but not necessarily. In order to be successful in business, they need their corsets to fit on a significant portion of the corset-wearing public, so they will tend towards measurements that are more common than not.
So, when you are ready to decide on a corset purchase, it is important to take some basic measurements so you have a better idea of whether or not a ready-to-wear a corset will fit you when it arrives, or if you need to focus on custom tailored. You won’t need every measurement from my measurement chart (and if you work with a custom maker, they will have their own measurements they work from), but it is a good idea to measure your underbust, waist, and hip (at about the height where a corset would stop), and figure out the maximum front length you would be comfortable wearing. This is most apparent when sitting, so sit up straight and measure from the base of your sternum (or your underbust) to just above where your lower abdomen becomes your lap. Try not to lean forward when taking the measurement, as the curvature of your torso will make it appear shorter than it actually is. This is the maximum length of an underbust corset for you. If the front of your corset is too long, it will either shove up your breasts, or prevent you from sitting comfortably, or quickly get bent out of shape. Your maximum overbust front length is probably going be about three inches longer than that, but it depends upon your torso length and the exact style of the corset (plunge vs. high over the curve of the bust).
What’s in a waist measurement? Well, lots of things. Ready-to-wear sites will very often have their corset sizes listed by waist measurement, and have their measurement / sizing chart with all the other fit details listed on its own page. But you may or may not want to order the corset size of your natural waist measurement. To figure that out, you need to answer another question.
