Waist Training - Who does waist training and why?
Mr Pearl a famous corsetiere, was also a famous tight lacer who acheived his 18" waist through the strict discipline of waist training.
How long is a piece of string?
There are so many reasons for people to waist train in a corset, and as many reasons as there are people. For some it is an addiction, for some a dependance, for others an enjoyable discipline. There is no definitave answer and there never has been. I would say, that many people engaged in the practice of tightlacing, fell into it almost by accident. Almost.
Motivation for tight lacing in a corset
In my own experience - at least as far as my clients are concerned, the reasons given have been
pain relief
relief from mental health issues
re-creating a memory
wanting an exaggerated shape
wanting to feel ‘bound’ or held
wanting to feel feminine
dependancy
aesthetic drama
Vanity, addiction or dependancy?
There have always been, throughout the history of time, those who want to enhance their shape, but also those who want to exaggerate their shape for whatever reason.
The strange thing about habitual waist training is that after a prolonged period - years of waist training in a corset, 24/7, - the body stays in its corsetted shape for a while after the corset is removed. This is when the corset becomes essential. One client told me that while wearing a corset they were as strong as an ox, but without it, they were weak as a kitten and simply could not function.
Another client almost fell into tightlacing by accident. This client realised that the medical corset they had been wearing after an accident, had been pain relieving, and that’s when they started waist training By the time they arrived in my studio, they had been training for some 20 years and stayed in a very exaggerated hourglass shape even when the corset was removed.
Mr Pearl, picutred above, is a famous corsetiere and ex-tightlacer. I met him in 2016 after he stopped tightlacing. He said that the physical experience of wearing corsets, particularly the effects on his breathing, circulation and the pressure on his organs, and that these had an effect on both his physical and mental awareness.
Mr Pearl watches Immodesty Blaize performing at Oxford Conference of Corsetry in 2016
Differences in male and female corsetry when waist training
Male tightlacers corset differently to female tight lacers. This is because men don’t have the same reproductive equipment that women have. The tighter you lace as a woman, the more the tummy will bulge. This can be easily hidden under skirts if undesirable, but most ladies who tight lace, feel it enhances the shape and feeling of being tightly laced. A male tightlacer however, will remail flat of tummy.
In the picture below - and indeed of any picture depicting famous tight lacer Cathy Jung, you will notice how her tummy protrudes due to the pressure of her corset.
Cathy Jung who once held the guiness record for smallest waist at 15”