Corset
Date: c. 1924
Material: cotton, silk, metal
2022.08
Label: College Girl Corset
College Girl Corsets were made by the Jackson Corset Company in Jackson, Mississippi. The company was founded in 1884, and claimed their corsets were endorsed by physicians, stating they were sensible garments that supported the back.
In ads from both 1921 & 1923, the college girl corset brand read as follows:
College Girl Corsets Bring Growth in Grace Like Healthful Exercise.
College Girl corsets represent a scientific plan of corseting. It is the result of 38 years' study and experience. It is well known that flesh will "flow" or "set" under persistent pressure or persistent exercise. College Girl corsets comfortably mould the figre in right posture an dright lines, just as well directed, faithful exercise does. They do not accomplish this forcibly by lacing. That would be unwhole-some, cruel. There is a mode for each type of figure designed according to the laws of anatomy. Each model encourages and permits development and improvement in that type not by over lacing but by proper guidance. The design of the corset is responsible. The resutls equal those of regular, wholesome exercise. So the figure constatnly improves. Grace through comfort - beauty through health. Ther are the great advantages College Girl corsets bring every woman. Thse are the specific aims that have inspired their makers for 38 years. There is a model for every figure - each bringing the fahsionable silhouette, the lines of youthfulness.
College Girl Corset, size 32.
Cotton corset with 2 channels at the center back, and three horizontal reinforcements at the waist. Gussets at the hips. Light pink with darker pink vertical channels. Darker pink flossing and embroidery.
Measurements:
Bust: 28 inches
Waist: 27 inches
Hips - 32 inches
Length : 19 inches
Straps: 18 inches
More Information: Marketed toward younger women, Jackson Corset Company’s College Girl Corset utilized the bandeau – corset combination, forgoing the tight laces seen in the majority of earlier Victorian and Edwardian corsets. The lack of boning gave the wearer more flexibility, and the style accentuated the desired youthful, boyish silhouette, allowing the tubular garments to hang from the shoulders with little acknowledgement of the hips or bust. In February of 1924, Evelyn Dodge, fashion writer for the Delineator magazine, wrote the following about this style corset:
To be smart this season one must be more than slim. The figure must defy nature and be as flat as the proverbial flounder, as straight as a lead pencil, and boneless and spineless as a string-bean. One must be straight like a boy and narrow like a lady in a Japanese print. These corselets have been enormously successful for several reasons – their excellent lines, their inexpensiveness, and the fact that they can be washed as easily and as often as any other piece of lingerie. They are supple enough for sports and dancing and their unbroken lines are perfect under the light fabrics of evening gowns.
This particular corselette is considered ‘deadstock,’ or clothing that was never sold or worn, and is in an unused condition.