Apricot coloured corset

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Corsets
Date: 1981
Place: Australia
Materials: Metal - non specific, Paper, Textile - non specific
Collection: Audrey and Rob Wells collection
Accession number: 2003.0061.0001

Description

Apricot-coloured 'soft pink broche' corset. "MODEL 3157/6 LYCRA / TYPE E SHORT BELOW WAIST" is printed on the inside. The corset has back-lacing, a top belt, a garter belt, and elastic panels in both sides. A folded grey and white paper leaflet, titled "Jenyns Reg. / SURGICAL CORSETRY", is attached to one of the garter clips.

About the collection

The Audrey and Rob Wells Collection consists of two corsets manufactured by Jenyns. Audrey Wells is a trained corsetier and the corsets were part of the stock she kept when she sold her business. They were all manufactured just prior to 1981 and Audrey fitted & sold these styles as recently as the mid 1980s. The corsets document two significant aspects of women's social history - the changing fashions of everyday life, and the way in which the changes to daily life influenced fashion. These corsets are good examples of the types of undergarments worn by many women during the twentieth century. Although an emphasis on health and physical exercise and the development of more flexible materials signalled a decline in the use of boned corsets and tight-lacing, some type of foundation garment continued to be an integral part of a woman's wardrobe until the late 1960s. This collection illustrates that some women continued to wear such garments until at least the late 1980s. The other significant feature of these corsets is the fan-lacing. This enabled the wearer to fasten the corset without assistance and signifies a shift in domestic arrangements whereby most women no longer had live-in servants.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 6:15:35 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-23. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.