The corset is a supportive undergarment for women, dating, in Europe, back several centuries, evolving as fashion trends have changed and being known, depending on era and geography, as a pair of bodies, stays and corsets. The appearance of the garment represented a change from people wearing clothes which fit their bodies to changing the shape of their bodies to support and fit their fashionable clothing.[2]
A "pair of bodies" or stays, the supportive garments that predated corsets, first became popular in sixteenth-century Europe, with the corset reaching the zenith of its popularity in the Victorian era.[3] While the corset has typically been worn as an undergarment, it has occasionally been used as an outer-garment; stays as outer-garments can be seen in the national dress of many European countries.[4]: 22
Ewings1978
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).