The+Victorian+Corset

The main purpose for the Victorian corset was to emphasize the wearer's small waist, further accentuating (and falsifying) a larger bust to hip ratio. __Materials__ The materials favored for the Victorian corset included
 * whale bone
 * steel
 * leather
 * cloth

__Tightlacing__ The Victorian corset was the first corset to fully embrace tight lacing due to the invention of the eyelet during the Napoleonic War, and the minet back, which allowed the pressure of the garment not to fall just on the individual loops, but to also be distributed on the whale bone.

Tightlacing is also the practice that made corsetry a very heated issue amongst feminists. Many children as well as women suffered injuries and extreme pain due to this practice. However, it was not the garment itself which caused this issue, because the corset itself would not cause these types of injuries if it was not worn in a tightlacing fashion.