The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine

[4] The editors sought to inform as well as entertain their readers; providing the advice of an 'encouraging friend' and 'cultivation of the mind'[5] alongside serialised fiction, short stories and poetry.

In 1860, however, following the Paper Tax abolition, the Beeton's decided to take the publication in a slightly different direction; opting to relaunch in a larger format and include high quality coloured plates.

For instance, “The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine of September 1872 included a pattern and sketch for a garment called baby stays, which were not boned but could be tied tightly”.

It seems absurd to allow the waist to grow large and clumsy, and then reduce it again to more elegant proportions by means which must at first be more less productive of inconvenience””.

“In 1867 an innocent letter from a mother worried about the use of corsets in her daughter’s school sparked a long discussion, in which the connection between tight-lacing, torture and pleasure was made explicit.

Right when the “corset correspondence” ended, a more sadistic subject rose, concerning the habit of whipping to control female servants and girls”.

[14] Furthermore, “a letter, which started the long discussion of tight-lacing, came from a mother complaining that she had left her “merry, romping girl” in a “large and fashionable boarding school near London” when she went abroad.

On her return four years later she saw a “tall pale young lady glide slowly in with measured gait and languidly embrace me”; her absurdly small waist explained her change in demeanor”.