Punch,  58 (1870), 185.

Is Tight-Lacing Injurious?

Anon

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Gender, Amusement, Health, Disease, Medical Practitioners


    Describes a meeting of 'fine ladies' at 'Phillis's Rooms' to discuss the alleged injurious effects of tight-lacing. Most of the ladies are passionate advocates of tight-lacing and would rather have tight waists than follow their doctor's advice. Miss Lovelace, for example, claims that tight-lacing has given her headaches and fainting fits although she discarded her doctor's warnings and 'obeyed her dressmaker'. Miss Gasper asks what doctors could know about tight-lacing given that they do not wear tight stays, while Mrs Bonpoint, whose doctor had warned her that tight-lacing produced a 'fatty something of the heart which often had proved fatal', says that she 'would rather die a martyr than dress out of the fashion'—a remark that is met with applause. Other women complain of the effects of the fashion on the complexion and the appetite, while still others complain that it makes horse-riding and waltzing difficult.



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