The Corset Comeback?

   Thank you, but ... no thank you. These little prisons masquerading as women's undergarments are trying to impinge on women's health and comfort again, thanks to the idiocy of performers like Madonna and designers like Marc Jacobs.
    The vicious concoctions of laces and whalebone stays were much in fashion during the later 1800's and early 1900's, when they caused a variety of health problems, such as visceroptosis, among the women who wore them. Visceroptosis is the medical term used for the displacement of internal organs, (that's right ... displacement!) and the problems associated with it. The shape of the corset could actually affect the shape of the spine. High-waisted corsets compressed the lungs, causing respiratory problems, and low-waisted corsets compressed the uterus, causing problems with menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth. Corsets also trapped blood below the waist and reduced blood flow to the brain, causing those of the "weaker sex" who wore them to faint easily. Public debates about the health affects of corsets finally began to arise and women began to search for an alternative.
   Enter Ida Rosenthal! Born in Minsk in 1886, she came to America with her family in 1904. She first set herself up as a seamstress in a small shop in Hoboken, but her business grew to a fashionable dress shop on East Fifty-Seventh Street in Manhattan, which is where she first designed the bra. Flapper dresses were all the rage in the early 1920's, but they were "user-friendly" only for the incredibly thin and small-chested. Women with a few more curves wanted a little more support, and Ida came up with the basic design that we're familiar with today. Ida made her creations by hand and actually gave them away at first, to promote dress sales in her shop. Customers soon began requesting the bras and were even willing to pay for them. Ida and her husband got together a start-up fund of $4,500.00, and the Maiden Form Brassiere Company was formed.
   Ida stood a mere 4 ft eleven inches tall, but every inch packed a punch. The story goes that she ordered male associates to sit so she would not have to look up at them in business discussions. She travelled the world promoting her business, which was ringing up sales in more than 100 countries by the 1960's. She continued representing the firm until she was well into her eighties.
   You can bet this feisty, shrewd woman would never be caught dead in a corset. What I want to know is, has Marc Jacobs tried one? Until he's willing to spend some time himself in one of those little torture chambers, or design an equivalent for a man's line of clothing, he should be a little more kind to his faithful followers. Just because they're too stupid to be discerning about how they spend their fashion budget, doesn't mean he has to be vicious at the drawing board.