Bone (corsetry)

Spiral steel is able to bend both horizontally and vertically, its only drawbacks being the fact that it's not as stable and tends to not support larger figures.

The corsets of the 16th through 18th centuries (called "stays", "bodies" or "corps") were intended to mold the upper torso into a rigid, cone-like shape.

A return to the natural or "classical" form was embraced by fashion, and for the first time in corset history, the bust was separated.

The busk was essentially a large, rigid "popsicle stick"- shaped bone inserted into a casing down the center front of the corset.

The mid-19th century brought more complex corsets (no longer called stays) and tighter lacing, which required more boning to create the desired shape.

The modern split busk was popular, as it allowed corsets to easily open in the front.

Coraline was manufactured from the straight, stiff fibers of the Mexican ixtle plant, bound together by two strands of thread wrapped in opposite directions.

[4] The extremely rigid and elongated torso popular in the 1880s to early 1890s required extensive boning to support and enhance the steam-molded and starched corsets of the period.

By the late 1890s, a lighter, shorter style of corset was becoming popular, coming in simpler shapes and using much less boning than in the previous decade.

Bones were most commonly made of steel by this time, and were often placed in pairs within casings that did not follow the placement of the corset's seams.

For those unable to procure steel boning, there are several alternative options, depending on the style of the corset desired.