Baby Corsets and Other Contraptions: How Europe and America Shaped Its Bodies

The striking thing about an 18th-century corset complete with an articulated pannier is that it begs the question, “Would any woman have been comfortable in such a contraption?” It’s hard to answer in the affirmative. Whether we like it or not, the notion of bodily comfort is going to be lurking in our minds when we observe such pieces of apparel through our modern frames of judgment. But it is obvious that for a long period of human civilization, the idea of status and the amount of physical space one occupied were inextricably connected.
Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette, an exhibition that is currently on display at Bard Graduate Center in New York City, goes beyond simply exhibiting accoutrements of intimate apparel from centuries past—though there are plenty of such pieces too. The exhibition also features mannequins wearing mechanized reconstructions of panniers, crinolines, and bustles in order to show how the undergarments were used to alter natural body forms.

An Intimate History

According to Associate Curator Ann Tartsinis, people are excited to see the different contraptions that women and men have endured in the name of fashion. Certain objects are more surprising than others, for example the so called “nursing stay”—a kind of corset with little flaps that open to supposedly allow the mother to breastfeed. Sounds plausible in writing until one sees the actual object because the little openings are rectangular, hence rather different to a woman’s anatomy. Enough said. Then there are babies corsets—yes, infants of both genders were molded into shape from a very early age under the belief that if they didn’t wear corsets they would grow up to be deformed.

Is 'Waist Training' Safe?

Is 'Waist Training' Safe? Here's What Kim Kardashian's Favourite Fitness Trend Could Really Do To Your Body
If you've not yet come across "waist training", then we can only deduce you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months (and maybe that's for the best).
Made popular by the likes of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, the fitness phenomenon involves using an elasticated shaping belt (similar in appearance to a corset) to constrict the waist.
The aim is to make the waist slimmer to create an emphasised hourglass physique.
But while it might sound too good to be true. Is it actually safe?

First things first, it's important to set the record straight: waist training is completely different to corset training.
Dr Galyna Selezneva, an aesthetic medical doctor practising at the Dr Rita Rakus clinic in London, explains to HuffPost UK Lifestyle: "Formal corset training takes year of dedication and is not a quick fix to achieve a small waist. People such as Dita Von Teese have spent years training their body and waist through proper use of corsets."
"The latex waist trainers that are culturally popular at the moment will not realistically create drastic changes to the body. So don’t believe the waist training gym selfies."
Premadonna, the woman behind Kim Kardashian's waist training obsession, claims that her 'Waistgangsociety Waistshaper' can reduce waist size by 3-4 inches.
"It also flattens the midsection and reduces excess belly fat," she says.
Slimming results vary depending on the individual: "There isn't any specific time frame. It could simply happen overnight or it could take up to three weeks."
But to see the full benefits, users are expected to wear it for a minimum of 3-4 hours a day.

SEE ALSO:
Kim Kardashian Reveals The Secret To Her Hourglass Figure With Waist Trainer Selfie
Woman Shrinks Waist To 20 Inches By Wearing Corset For 23 Hours A Day
'Is It Weird I Can't Feel My Knees Right Now?': Watch The Hilarious Moment Men Try Waist-Training Corsets

Now to answer the question on everybody's lips: is crushing your midriff for long periods of time really safe?
While Premadonna says that there are "no dangerous side effects", there are many who beg to differ and personal trainer, Joshua Silverman, is one of them.
"The waist trainers made so popular by the likes of Kim Kardashian should be avoided at all costs, for more than one reason," he warns.
"Waist trainers work by constricting the abdominal walls, which is where important muscle and adipose tissue sits to protect your internal organs. When you constrict this area, it stops blood flow getting to this tissue, and therefore to those organs."
He continues: "Not only this, but when constricting, your body cannot release fat from that area. This means it actually could even start gathering fat there, due to the fact that it can't free up any fatty acids.
"So rather than reducing your waist size, you could actually do the opposite in the longer term."
Story continues below...

Dr Selezneva adds that waist training can also damage your ribs and bones.
"In order to achieve a tiny waist, the ribcage must be minimised which is achieved by reshaping the cartilage that connects the ribs to the breastbone."

"The upper seven pair of ribs are unaffected by waist training as their cartilage attaches directly to the sternum and cannot be reshaped," she reveals.
"However, the eighth, ninth and tenth pair of ribs, known as the ‘false ribs’ are not directly connected to the sternum and therefore can be reshaped through the waist training. Over many years, these ribs are slowly pushed closer together."
Waist training is particularly dangerous, explains Dr Selezneva, because there's a risk that young people will easily be influenced by what they see on social media.
"The pictures that these celebrities put up on Instagram endorsing the waist training will influence their followers into believing they can achieve their figures by doing the same, without highlighting the risks they present to their bodies," she says.

"With younger people, their bodies and muscles are still developing so any damage done is more likely to be permanent."

The History of the Corset

When we think of historical corsets today, what comes to mind is the extreme hourglass shape fashionable during the Victorian period. But when did corsets really begin?

The first instances of corsets, or ‘stays’, being used under a bodice can be traced back to the end of 17th century. These were stiffened conical shapes which lifted the bust and shaped the waist. However they were not the restrictive garments we imagine today – women at the time would stitch their stays by hand, and there were no metal eyelets for lacing, so stays could not be laced very tightly or the laboriously stitched together garment would break. 

During the 18th century, stays were laced either at the back or at the front under or over an embroidered stomacher (a stiff panel which attached to the bodice) in a zig-zag shape. In her portrait to the left, Madame de Pompadour wears a stomacher decorated with a line of bows; a look she popularised.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the fashionable waistline moves upwards (think Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice), so corsets also change - dresses are looser so the body no longer needs shaping in the same way. The emphasis in this period is on the bust, so cups are built into the corset for the first time, and stiff wooden busks are used to keeps the breasts apart. Below is an example of a corset from 1790.

 

With the advent of the Victorian period, the waist moves back down and more recognisable corsets come into use. These make use of new inventions – metal eyelets and metal busks which use hooks to allow the corset to be fastened at the front, as well as laced at the back. Criss-cross lacing is introduced, and remains in use today. It is during this period that tight-lacing becomes popular, along with the hourglass figure. Below is an example of a corset from 1864. 

 

 Corsets largely fell out of fashion during the 1920s, as a new "boyish" shape was desired by flappers. They began to come back into popularity in the 1950s in the form of bustiers and girdles like the ones to the right.

Modern designers like Jean Paul Gaultier have revisited the corset in haute couture, and the resurgence of burlesque has ensured that corsets are once again  fashionable and desirable items of lingerie!

Ready to try out corsets for yourself? Our corsets and waspies are designed for the boudoir or as outerwear (rather than waist training corsets, which need to be specially made to safely reduce your waist-line)!

HELLOwaist: Carli and Ally on their second week of waist-training

Week two of Kim Kardashian-style waist-training led to some shocking discoveries. 1) Sugar can be a waist-trainer’s best friends... and heady addiction. 2) Wearing your corset upside down can really slow your progress. Keep up-to-date on our journey by following the #HELLOwaist hashtag on Beelike.com.

Carli Whitwell, Senior Writer, @carliwhitwell:

I have a confession to make… and it’s an embarrassing one. Turns out, I was wearing my waist trainer upside down for the first 10 days of this challenge.
Here’s how I found out. It was about 3:30 pm on a Friday and we were eating cake at the Hello! Canada offices. (Sadly, this isn’t a regular occurrence; it was senior editor Michael Killingsworth’s birthday.) I had completed my eight-hour stretch of training, so took off my corset and was demonstrating to a friend how to button it up.
That’s when Ally noticed my mistake. “That’s how you’ve been wearing it? That’s upside down!”
I’m left-handed, so the only explanation I can think of is that I found it easier to clasp the hooks on the corset when it was upside down. Also, for some reason I thought the tag should be at the bottom. (To my credit, I was in a sinus cold-induced haze at the time.) Thanks to my waist-training partner-in-crime Ally for pointing out my gaffe and only teasing me about it a little. :)

Now that I’m waist training the right way, I’m noticing a huge difference. There are two settings on every corset and this past weekend I cinched it to the tighter setting. And, just yesterday, Ally and I decided we are going to go down to a size smaller for the second half of this month-long experiment. (Scarlett O’Hara, he we come!)
I’ve been keeping up my four-days-a-week fitness regimen but, to be honest, have yet to wear my corset during my sweatfests. I’m a little nervous that I may pass out. So, I’m going to keep it on for my weekly “Muscle Up” class this Thursday and will keep you posted.
The good news is, even without wearing it during exercise, I can say that my waist trainer has upped my abs game, which has always been the Jan Brady of my fitness routine. Instead of lying on the couch watching Bloodline after work, I’ve been pulling out my yoga mat and doing crunches and sit-ups… while watching Bloodline after work!

It’s been said it takes 21 days to break a habit, but maybe it takes 21 days to make one, too. I think my body is slowly becoming used to wearing a corset. I know this because previously – and perhaps because it was upside-down – I used to watch the clock until I could unbutton my waist trainer.
Today, I just realized it’s about half-an-hour past the time I’m “allowed” to remove it and I feel like I can keep going. And that, my friends, is progress!

Ally Dean, Fashion & Beauty Editor, @allyedean:

Here is the thing about waist training: overall you’re less hungry. But, I’ve found myself eating much more bad-for-you food than I would without my midsection on lockdown. You know the kind of food that get’s a “Stop” sign on the poster at your dentist’s office (think cakes, cookies, chips and candy). It seems my corset creates a mental free pass to indulge – a dangerous past time when you work in an office inundated with treats. Forget a sizeable kale and quinoa salad, I’ve no room for that. But a handful of leftover Easter chocolates? Yes please. I shall eat one fist full ever hour, on the hour.
This high-calorie reward system is my version of the mental ‘pat on the back’ athletes give themselves after a sweat session. Some may honour an hour on a Pilates reformer with a carb-laden dinner but, for me, I applaud my 8+ hours of being strapped into my waist-trainer by elbowing colleagues away from a plate of homemade brownies stuffed with Cadbury cream egg. (Yes, that was a real delicacy crafted by our Editorial Assistant, Nicole Carrington).

The takeaway is that my corset is turning me into a sugar-wired, nutrition-deficient monster. My focus now isn’t just on strapping into my corset, but on strapping into my corset and veering away from all sweets, treats and generally unhealthy food options (after I polish off this delivery of macarons, naturally).
Despite my newfound sugar addiction, the waist trainer still seems to shrink my waistline. In fact, as this week comes to an end I had to call up my friends at Hourglass Angel and ask them to send another, smaller corset!
With a sugar ban and smaller cincher on the horizon, here’s hoping I don’t fall into a sugar-deficient, perma-bad mood next week.

Why You Might Not Want to Jump Onto That Waist Training Bandwagon—Experts Weigh In

One of the biggest celeb trends this season has nothing to do with flirty fruits, must-have prints or punchy spring pumps—it's actually all about the hourglass (body shape, that is).
Waist training has become the go-to fitness hack for celebrities who want to trim their middles in time for what we're sure will be a body envy-inducing bikini season. Kim Kardashian, sisters Kourtney Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan and Kim Zolciak have all purportedly used the waist training method to enhance (or exaggerate, really) their hourglass figures.
But is jumping back a few centuries for the corset training trend really worth it? We had to find out, which is why we asked experts in the field tell us whether sucking it in corset-style can actually lead to a slimmer figure—or if it's all really smoke and selifies mirrors. And you might be surprised what they reveal!
PHOTOS: Celebs dish on their diet and fitness secrets

Pouya Shafipour, M.D., of Wellesley Medical in Los Angeles believes that waist training has more to with feeling confident than actually losing fat from the waistline. (His view may explain why women like Jessica Alba have reportedly used corsets after pregnancy.)
"[Waist training] is not so much about medical results. It makes you feel more confident. It makes you want to exercise more," he explained.
Dr. Shafipour does however use a similar device for obese patients—corset-tight clothing that helps shape excess fat after weight loss: "For people that are heavier, these physically give them a lot more mobility. And psychologically it provides a feel-good effect, makes them stand straight. A lot of the benefits involve just feeling better, feeling slimmer and feeling taller," he said. "It gives them a lot of confidence to do things that they probably normally wouldn't."
PHOTOS: Best celeb healthies

Some celebs have worn corsets for work instead of weight loss, like Cinderella's Lily James, who was made to take on a liquid diet of sorts when sporting her ultra-tight corset in the film.
"When [the corset] was on we would be on continuous days so we wouldn't stop for lunch or a lovely tea like this—you'd be sort of eating on the move," James told E! News in March. "In that case, I couldn't untie the corset. So if you ate food it didn't really digest properly and I'd be burping all afternoon in [Richard Madden]'s face, and it was just really sort of unpleasant. I'd have soup so that I could still eat but it wouldn't get stuck."

Beyond being forced to eat less (or liquid-only) while wearing the corset, there may be some internal risks involved: Dr. Paul Nassif, of E!'s own Botched reality series, has concerns about the severe compression involved with wearing increasingly smaller corsets.
"I'm worried about is what effect it has on the lower intestines with pushing the contents into the pelvic region," he said. "That is a [concern], in addition to compressing the diaphragm, which causes pulmonary problems. Basically, there is potential for internal organ compression causing kidney, gastrointestinal and lung issues."
Beyond internal organ damage, risks include skin infection if the corset is worn too tight, as well as scarring for the same reason. Another problem could be the obsession factor—especially for naturally-thin individuals who choose this as a daily tummy-tightening routine.

Further, Dr. Nassif suggests that there are no real long-term effects of wearing a waist training device: "They will visibly streamline the appearance of the body, but do not have any permanent slimming effects," he said. "The results are not 'real' based on the fact that the individuals who wear the waist trainer have the same body fat percentage as they did prior to putting the device on. Diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle are by far the best guidelines to follow for individuals who want to stay fit and pride themselves in looking their best."
Well, there you have it! And sorry waist training addicts: It may be better to wear these corsets with caution, if it all.

Teen Mom 2's Jenelle Evans starts waist training after admitting she has gotten down to 108 pounds from cutting out carbs

She has gotten down to 108 pounds thanks to heavy exercise and a carb-free diet.

But now Jenelle Evans is taking after Kim and Khloe Kardashian by waist training.

On Tuesday the 23-year-old Teen Mom 2 star showed off her new system with a picture of her corseted waist.

Scroll down for video... 

Trim and tanned: Jenelle Evans announced on Tuesday that she is waist training. This comes after she shared that she has dieted her way down to 108lbs; here she is pictured at Buca di Beppo in NYC on Thursday

 About to go do cardio!! Finally decided to start waist training. Thanks @waistedbykeke �� I'm loving it so far!' the reality standout wrote in her caption.

She wore the black corset over a green and pink workout number.

The beauty also had on her hand an engagement ring, which is interesting considering she had a big fight with her fiance last month.

 

On March 4, Nathan Griffith, 27,  was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

She said that he pinned her 'against a toilet and forcibly removed an engagement ring from her finger' after they got into an argument. She complained part of her finger was cut.

She said she had been staying in a hotel and went back to their home to get some belongings.  

Griffith said he never touched her and it was Jenelle who was violent. He added she had been violent in the past.  

Jenelle welcomed their baby Kaiser only eight months ago.

On Tuesday RadarOnline reported that the couple have been contacting each other on Facebook.

He recently changed his status to 'single' which upset her. 

As far as her diet, Evans has said that she has been laying off the pasta and soda and instead been enjoying leaner foods.

'I don't drink protein shakes.. low carb diet, only water to drink, chicken/steak, veggies, cardio, and home workouts. Shredz supplements , Niacin, Biotin,' she told a fan on Twitter. 

On Thursday, however, she was seen enjoying a plate of pasta at Buca di Beppo in New York City.

The North Carolina native is only 5ft 1in tall.

Waist training: Body shaping method with side effects?

Victorian era practice sees new popularity after celebrities share pictures, messages of benefits and results on social media

The hour glass look has been a fashion convention for centuries and now, the pulling and stretching is putting the squeeze on a whole, new generation of image conscious consumers with the 21st Century trend know as waist training.
As soon as social media stars like Kim and Khloe Khardashian showed off the latest waist training devices on Instagram about a year ago, the rush was on.
"It does get crazy in here on the weekend," said Eva Garcia, marketing manager for Top Image, a women's clothing retailer located in the metro Phoenix area. She says stores like hers are barely keeping up with demand.
"Now that the celebrities have made it more trendy, girls don't see it as a faja, or a full body cincher or a girdle," Garcia says. "This is something fun, this is something we can just wear under our clothes."
Between W-2's and Form 10-40's, tax preparer, Martha Valenzuela caught the waist training bug. It wasn't easy, she says and squeezing onto the bandwagon took a little extra help.
"My fiancee helped me put it on the very first time," she said. "I thought it was gonna be impossible to put it on, but we got it on."
Cynthia Jones had been in the market for a waist trainer and said that it felt good but kind of snug when she tried it on for the first time.
The tighter the better seems to be the preferred fitting guide, but when is tight, too tight? Pablo Prichard, MD, Chief of Plastic Surgery at John C Lincoln Hospital, in Phoenix, shared the inside story for what's happening under a very snug fitting, waist trainer or corset.
"They are doing a small amount of tension to the actual rib cage and the waist muscles; and overtime can actually modify the skeletal system--to the rib cage," Prichard said.
Proponents of moderate waist training or corset wearing recommend only a half inch, to an inch of reduction per month as a healthy benchmark.
"Going past that is certainly causing your body undo stress to your abdomen," Prichard said. "If you get any bruising, if you get any sort of pain associated with the corset wearing--you're doing it wrong."
He went on to warn, "You should definitely stop doing what you're doing, because you're causing yourself damage. If you're having pain, that is your body telling you to stop."
So far, for those who've seen positive results, a healthy lifestyle and patience--a lot of patience, seems to be the key to molding a new body image.
"You put it on and you wear it and it's just gonna be this magical thing that's going to transform your body," Martha Valenzuela said. "I don't think it works that way. Obviously it helps, but eating and exercising is the key, really."

Top 5 Monochromatic Looks From BET's Black Girls Rock Event

On March 28, some of Hollywood's hottest stars came out to the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey for BET's 2015 'Black Girls Rock!' event.
The annual event, which honored trailblazing women of color, had a number of powerful women in attendance including First Lady Michelle Obama, Faith Evans and Regina King.

The red carpet was especially sizzling, but coincidentally, most fashionistas skipped the bright bold colors and wild prints in favor of chic black and white styles. From white hot mini-frocks to sultry black slip dresses, check out the top five monochromatic looks of the night.

#5 Jada Pinkett Smith 
Putting girls half her age to shame, the stunning 43-year-old was white hot in a sexy corset shape Versace Spring 2015 strapless dress styled with silver Jimmy Choo clutch and metallic Christian Louboutin platforms.

#4 Janelle Monae
Sticking with her signature black-and-white color palette,  the "Yoga" singer wore a cute and feminine two-piece RVN.

#3 Tracee Ellis Ross
The 'Black-ish' star looked like a Greek goddess in a white Bibhu Mohapatra Spring 2015 asymmetric gown with a sexy thigh-high slit.

#2 Kat Graham
The "Vampire Diaries" star wore a dark and dramatic Barbara Bui top and an asymmetrical Anthony Vaccarello side train skirt

#1 Ciara
Oozing pure sex appeal the "Body Party" singer wore a sultry Nili Lotan black silk slip dress with a flattering bias-cut silhouette and raw-edge shirttail hem. Perfection!

Waitressville Uniform to debut the ‘Dream Corset’ at the Nightclub and Bar Show in Las Vegas with a Fashion Show on the Main Stage

The Dream Corset™ is the most comfortable and flexible 12 hr. corset for VIP servers

Las Vegas, NV Waitressville Uniforms, the company responsible for some of the most iconic looks in the restaurant industry including Twin Peaks restaurants, Bombshells Restaurants and Bone Daddy’s’ Restaurants announces the newest edition to their V.I.P. line, the ‘Dream Corset™’. March 30 will mark the fourth year in a row debuting their newest designs at the Nightclub and Bar Show in Las Vegas.   April 1^st will mark the second year they feature a fashion show on the Main Stage. This will be the first reveal of the Dream Corset™. Waitressville was the official uniform provider featured on every episode of Spike Network’s Bar Rescue this season.

Waitressville boasts a sizeable booth displaying variety of fashionable and functional server, bartender, promo model and V.I.P. uniforms. The company boasts a collection of fun, classic and wearable styles designed ‘by a woman- for a woman’. “We received so many requests for a V.I.P. corset that doesn’t leave the servers bruised, uncomfortable and, frankly, suffocated like the styles currently offered in the market “ says Terra Saunders, a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader and Waitressville owner and head designer. “The Dream Corset™ was born.” Says Saunders, “It’s flexible, washable, and gives you an amazing hourglass figure… you have to try it to believe it! It can be worn for a double shift and still feel amazingly snug, yet breathable. That’s why we say ‘It looks like a corset, but feels like a dream.’” The Dream Corset™ is available in a variety of colors and can be totally customized with customer logos, full color printing and rhinestones. The Dream Corset™ starts at $15.00 and goes up to $35.00 for the more elaborate rhinestone version.

Waitressville is the leader in custom waitress uniform design for chain restaurants.   Restaurants and bars with a smaller number of locations can also receive a customized look to their uniforms by ordering online at www.beelike.com. Waitressville.com uniforms are made in the company’s factory in Dallas, Texas.

Woman Wears Corset For Six Years To Slim Down To Outrageously Tiny Waist

Move over Kim Kardashian, you have some competition when it comes to your corsetry. News spread last year that the reality television star was a part of the latest get-fit trend known as waist-training, in which anyone who dares to return to the 18th century wears a modern-day corset for a few hours a day. However, the trend has now taken to new extremes, as this woman has been wearing a corset for the past six years to achieve a 20-inch waist. Yes, you read that correctly.
According to Cosmo, Aleira Avendaño is a 25-year-old Venezuelan model who has already had her share of body augmentations. She has had three breast implants to boost her cup size to a whopping 34DD, and she has had plastic surgery on her mouth, nose and posterior. Her waist, however, is what is gaining her the most attention with rumors spreading that if she turns to the side, she somewhat disappears. Optical illusion? Not so much.
In order to be the master of the disappearing act, Avendaño has put herself through some extreme measures for the past six years. She says that she wears a corset for 23 hours a day (just to refresh your memory, there are total of 24 in a day), and only takes off the corset to wash herself and rest for an hour. In a video by Barcroft Media, she says that it is like her “second skin,” and that she lives in it. Although a doctor in the video suggests that she puts an end to the madness, she won’t budge. Her goal, she says, is to be “very well known for my body.”

Amber Rose Goes Topless In Hot Beach Photos: Her Weight Loss, Yoga and Waist Training Tips

 

Amber Rose’s fitness secrets include yoga, a portion-controlled diet and waist training.

Amber Rose displayed her bootylicious curves in a topless Maui beach photo, where she posed wearing nothing but a thong.
“If only this beach was actually Topless,” Amber wrote in the caption to her Instagram selfie March 25.
In another photo, Rose showed off her curvy glutes while suntanning herself on a yellow beach towel. 

 Amber, who is hailed for her over-the-top curves, recently revealed that her weight loss secrets are a portion-controlled diet and yoga workouts, Examiner reported.
The 5-foot-8 Rose, who weighed 202 pounds while pregnant, lost all her baby weight in seven months by eating less, doing yoga and working out with a trainer 90 minutes a day.
Yoga promotes natural weight loss, is low-impact exercise, and reduces stress, said Jennifer Aniston’s yoga teacher Mandy Ingber, author of Yogalosophy.
Like Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Jessica Alba, Amber also does corset waist training to whittle her midsection.

Amber Rose’s fitness secrets include yoga and waist training.

Waist-training, or the “Corset Diet,” is a weight loss trend some women use to winnow down their midsection.
“This is a remarkable way to train your waist to be smaller,” said plastic surgeon Dr. Alexander Sinclair, who claims some of his patients have lost up to six inches.
Kim Kardashian said she wore a waist trainer to bed every night to make her waist smaller ahead of her May 2014 wedding to Kanye West. Actress Jessica Alba has credited wearing double corsets around the clock for three months for her dramatic post-baby weight loss.

 Similarly, Brooke Burke Charvet, creator of the Transform Your Body workout DVD, said wearing a corset was responsible for her stunning post-baby weight loss after each of her four pregnancies.
“Wrapping your post-partum belly is a concept that has been around for centuries,” said Burke Charvet, who has her own line of belly wraps called Baboosh. “It works as a compression garment. It helps the swelling of the uterus go back down to its original size and it supports all that baggy baby skin. It is a great, great way to get back in shape.”

Woman Wears Corset 23 Hours a Day & Achieves Tiny Waist (PHOTO)

Is there a such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to how teeny weeny a woman can make her waist? Barbie would disagree, but one woman's insane ritual of wearing a corset every day for 23 hours—which she has been doing for the last six years—has helped her achieve her ultimate body goal: a 20-inch waist.
Waist training has been in the news a lot lately, mostly thanks to the Kardashian sisters, who have shed inches and inches off of their already-slim waists with the help of special waist training corsets.
But a Venezuelan model named Aleira Avendano, who is 25, has every celeb who is just getting hip to this "fitness" trend beat because she has been wearing her corset for six incredibly painful (or at least uncomforable) years, and she only gives her body a break for one hour each day, which I assume is the time she takes a shower and gets dressed.
And the proof that this works is her waist—which is so small it's practically impossible to see when she is photographed from certain angles. Here she is:

Different strokes for different folks. I don't like to criticize women or men for decisions they make about their own bodies, even if this isn't my thing. The only thing I can think about when I see this is how my quality of life wouldn't be the same if I had to wear a constricting corset practically every minute of the day. For me, this wouldn't be worth the hassle or pain.
But Avendano makes a living off of her curves, more so than most  fashion models because she is a glamour model who has appeared in magazines like Playboy. With so many women going under the knife—especially in that business—it must be impossible to stand apart from others at casting calls. Avendano's crazy constant waist-training probably pays off for her when she books jobs.
I prefer a more realistic female silhouette, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find this fascinating.
Would you do what this model did to achieve a 20-inch waist?