I’m deep into a meze spread at Ayat, a favorite Palestinian restaurant in Manhattan’s East Village, when I feel a sharp pain in my side. The pressure keeps building, so I look at my friend and sigh. “I’ll be right back,” I say, then rush to the bathroom for an emergency adjustment to the corset I’m wearing.
A few weeks earlier, I had been talking to Kylie Jenner’s stylists, sisters Alexandra and Mackenzie Grandquist, about fashion’s renewed obsession with the waist. That’s when they let me in on a little secret. Corsets are hiding under more outfits than you’d think, Mackenzie said. She added that they’re no longer just for shaping figures at big events. “You can just throw one on with a T-shirt to go out to lunch.”
They told me Jenner’s own collection includes a custom piece by corset legend Mr. Pearl—which took a year and multiple fittings at his London studio to perfect—along with several Jean Paul Gaultier waspies (waist-only versions of the corset). She’s in good company: Hailey Bieber wore her own corset for a recent girls’ night out, Sabrina Carpenter rocked a variety of sparkly full-body corsets during her Short n’ Sweet tour, Jessie Buckley turned to a torso-length waspie while promoting The Bride!, and Bad Bunny made history at the Grammys in a custom Schiaparelli corseted tuxedo that gave him an hourglass shape.
Valerie Steele, chief curator of The Museum at Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology, called the corset—long criticized as anti-feminist and restrictive—“probably the most controversial garment in the history of fashion” in her 2001 book The Corset: A Cultural History. Twenty-five years later, she notes that while we may be far from the rigid conformity of the corset’s Victorian peak, many of us just restrict ourselves in different ways.
“Women didn’t stop wearing corsets,” she says. “They just internalized them through diet, exercise, liposuction, tummy tucks, and, more recently, Ozempic.” Freed from their repressive past, corsets are now an option for all kinds of body types and make a completely different statement. (And sometimes, of course, corsets can relieve pain instead of causing it, like the custom braces made at Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery, which help with spinal issues such as scoliosis.)
“Corsetry today,” Steele continues, “is very much about ‘I’m powerful, I’m sexy.’” She points to Matières Fécales founders Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran’s Paris Fashion Week show—which featured over 15 hourglass silhouettes on a variety of different bodies—as a key moment in reclaiming both the waist and the corset.
Illisa, the owner of Illisa’s Vintage Lingerie, whose clients at her Sutton Place boutique have included Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa (and, full disclosure, me), says that whenever a new historically inspired drama like Wuthering Heights or Bridgerton gains a fan base, her business takes off. But while her shop has recently seen a surge in classic corsets with hook-and-eye closures, modern versions come with easy updates—like a front closure for those of us who live alone, along with heavy-duty steel boning (mid-century corsets usually used celluloid-plastic boning)—and even more intense options.
IN A BIND
Erdem’s spring 2026 runway featured a range of 19th-century-inspired caged, corseted, cinched, and belted pieces.
Photo: Armando Grillo / Gorunway.com
On a drizzly early-spring afternoon, I head to Lower Manhattan—to the family-owned Orchard Corset in the Lower East Side and Agent Provocateur in SoHo—to find the new state of the corset.
Behind the theatrical windows on Orchard Street, owners Peggy and Ralph Bergstein are quietly working in front of stacks of boxes with handwritten labels—Christian Lacroix Couture Panties, Half Slips XL. Once I tell Peggy what I’m looking for—a manufactured hourglass figure—she takes me to the back room, choo…She tries on a few options, and gives my nearly naked body a quick look before lacing me into one of their custom-made satin underbust corsets. Later, across town at Agent Provocateur, I’m bracing my arms against the dressing room walls while a shop assistant yanks the laces like she’s pulling the cord on a lawn mower, squeezing almost three inches off my waist.
I come home with a black mesh waspie from Agent Provocateur and the satin underbust corset from Orchard, planning to wear them under my clothes for the next few weeks (though Erdem’s spring 2026 runway showed that wearing corsets over clothes can be provocative too). Both pieces make my 1950s merry widow corsets feel like oversized T-shirts. “Looks good, but seems like it would be uncomfortable to touch,” my fiancé replies when I send him a dressing room selfie I snuck at Orchard. “How much can you actually do in it?”
It’s easier, maybe, to list everything I can’t do—like pick up my keys when they fall on the floor, or walk down subway steps without feeling like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz—and don’t even get me started on going to the bathroom. But I’m also magically gifted with the best posture of my life—and I’m living proof of what Steele told me earlier: I feel powerful.
Hari Nef agrees. The model and actor was first introduced to waist cinchers by Barbie costume director Jacqueline Durran, though for the film’s press tour, Nef wanted to pay tribute to the doll in a more subversive way. “I had a custom corset made that gave me the proportions of a Barbie with all the old-fashioned body modification—the dark, sinister context of a corset,” Nef says. Mr. Pearl made it happen. And while she never wears it for everyday use (she’s quick to mention how she almost fainted in it on the steps of the 2024 Met Gala), Nef says the piece stays in her fashion collection for moments when it feels right—for her, choice is everything. “You can wear a corset one day and a drop waist the next,” she says. (In fact, the corset revival comes just as some designers, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu, are showing drop-waist looks that are completely flowing and free.)
When I realize a trip to London isn’t happening—Mr. Pearl only takes on select clients for in-person fittings—I turn to Jackson Wiederhoeft, whose brand bears his last name and who makes custom corsets by hand in Manhattan’s Garment District. Inside his pink-and-emerald-green showroom, Wiederhoeft and a colleague start by taking 19 measurements, including what they call my “smallest waist”—the tightest they can wrap a tape measure around the part of my waist where the corset will squeeze me the most. After measuring, I’m given a number between 00 and 30 and then a subtype—curvy, athletic, petite, or flare. Soon I’m trying on a sample, and it’s the most comfortable corset I’ve ever worn. Unfortunately, it also costs three months’ rent, so for now it’ll have to stay a dream.
As much as I’ve been enjoying squeezing my body into new corsets (or at least enjoying the results), there are times when the pain and hassle get to be too much. Back in the bathroom at Ayat, I face a choice of my own, though it’s an easy one: I just loosen my laces, undo the buttons one by one, and drop my corset into my tote. Almost immediately, my body starts to feel like crescent roll dough popping out of its container. When I return to our table, I confess what I’ve been up to. “So you’re done with corsets?” my friend asks with a sly smile.
Today? Definitely. Tomorrow? I’ll probably lace back up again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about whether corsets can feel modern written in a natural conversational tone
Beginner General Questions
1 Arent corsets just oldfashioned and uncomfortable
Not anymore Modern corsets are often designed for comfort using soft fabrics and flexible steel or spiral boning Theyre less about squeezing you into a tiny waist and more about gentle shaping or back support
2 Can you actually wear a corset with jeans and a tshirt
Absolutely A simple underbust corset or a corset top made of cotton or faux leather looks great over a tshirt or under a blazer It adds instant structure to a casual outfit
3 Is wearing a corset the same as tightlacing
No Tightlacing is the extreme practice of reducing your waist size over time Most people just wear corsets for fashion posture or light shapingwithout any dramatic waist reduction
4 How is a modern corset different from a Victorian one
Modern corsets use breathable materials adjustable lacing and flexible boning Victorian corsets were often stiff heavy and restrictive Todays versions prioritize movement and daily wearability
5 Will a corset ruin my posture or hurt my back
If worn correctly and not too tight a corset can actually improve posture by supporting your lower back and reminding you to sit up straight Overtightening or wearing one for hours without breaks can cause discomfort so listen to your body
Advanced Practical Questions
6 Can I wear a corset to work or the gym
Work Yes if its a subtle underbust style under a shirt or dress Avoid anything too tight if you sit all day
Gym Generally not recommended Corsets restrict deep breathing and core movement which can hinder exercise and cause strain
7 Whats the difference between a fashion corset and a waisttraining corset
Fashion corset Made for stylesofter boning lighter fabric often worn as a top or layered It offers light shaping
Waisttraining corset Stiffer with steel boning and tighter lacing designed to gradually reduce waist size over months