Editing History of corsets (section)

== Late 18th and early 19th century ==
During and shortly following the [[French Revolution]], [[rationalism|rationalists]] and [[classicism|classicists]] criticized the glorification of an artificial body shape, created by stays, as more beautiful than the natural human form. Fashion trended towards loose, thin dresses which resembled the shift dresses worn as undergarments by previous generations. Doctors and philosophers promoted the beauty of the natural female waist, and criticized the effect of wearing stays on female health as well as the health of the fetus, when worn during gestation. By the 1770s, "short stays" became the fashion.<ref name=":2" /> These garments did not extend beyond the chest area and had little to no boning, instead serving to create a fashionable "shelf" shape for the bust. Short stays were appropriate to wear beneath the [[empire silhouette]] gowns of the period, which were loose and unrestrictive below the chest and created a long, columnar line which referenced the clothing of [[Ancient Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]. This style of dress was called ''robe à la grecque''.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rauser |first=Amelia |date=2020-03-02 |title=The Age of Undress - Neoclassicism, Fashion & "Living Statues" |url=https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2020/03/02/the-age-of-undress-yale-art-blog/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=Yale University Press London Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> Lightly boned stays were still worn for formal occasions, but it was acceptable to forego them, even at highly formal settings such as at the [[royal court]].<ref name=":2" /><gallery>
File:Regency-underclothes.png|Regency short stays circa 1810
File:Corset ElastiqueFrench1803.gif|Short stays circa 1803
File:1823-Ball-Gown-Diaphanous-Overskirt.jpg|alt=An 1823 fashion plate, showing a Regency era ball gown. An illustration of a young woman dancing in an empire-waist pink dress with a sheer white overskirt.|An 1823 fashion plate, showing a Regency era ball gown
</gallery>