Corsets for Men: Fetish Fashion or Hard Pass?

September 28, 2024
ALEXANDER

Corsets for Men: Fetish Fashion or Hard Pass?

As gender fluidity increases in mainstream media, we are seeing more and more male celebrities wearing what would have before been considered female fashion, even the straight ones are doing it. As we know from The Devil Wears Prada, that all trickles down to everyday fashion. There is an increasing popularity in the male corset, and it is not just for fetish fashion anymore.

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Men in corsets are a bigger part of fashion history than we presently think. Corsets first came to being in the 1500s as designed by Catherine de Medici. Men started to sport corsets heavily in Europe and Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. The movement was called dandyism and it was an attempt to indicate a level of wealth, like the aristocrats, where there was a heavy emphasis on physical appearance, detailed tailoring, and exaggerations of the natural figure. Being slender in the waist was all the rage, and often padding was added to the upper and lower body to contrast a small waist. The French courts of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette had an important hand in influencing fashion.

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The fashion riding coat fashion moved from France to England, but they were really corsets in hiding. For those men who wanted the look but didn't want to be categorized as a dandy. As tension between France and England mounted, French fashion started to fall out of grace and dandy-like fashion was considered bourgeois excess and homosexual. In the 19th century, the Great Male Renunciation began. This set the tone for today's fashion as men strayed away from over-the-top, intricate, and embellished outfits and tailoring and opted for streamlined, practical, and masculine attire - the suit and tie era was to begin.

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In the US, corsets were being used as a type of bodily support, like a weightlifting belt, in the military, for hunting, and for strenuous work.

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Designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen have incorporated corsets into male fashion, but outside of gay and drag fashion, it didn't take wing. Corsets in the gay fetish community have been commonplace, playing with sub and dom themes.

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But outside of fetish wear, more and more men's designs with corsets are being seen. In fact, there are companies who just sell fashion corset wear. They highlight the curves of the male body and play with our fantasies. Smaller waists show off a bigger booty and a bigger bulge.