Simone Ashley Should’ve Never Felt Uncomfortable Wearing Corsets
In a recent interview given to The Times, the star of season 2 of Bridgerton Simone Ashley spoke candidly about the show’s costume design. Unfortunately, Ashley only had negative things to say about one particular aspect of the costumes. On corsets, she said, “Corsets push everything down to the bottom of your stomach. They’re so beautiful, but I hate them. Never again! Luckily, we’re allowed to wear bras now instead and that has changed everything for me. I can do a 12-hour day and feel comfortable.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time an actress has spoken up about disliking wearing corsets while on the set of a period drama. When you imagine a corset, you may think of being forced into an inhumanly tight piece of underwear that restricts your breathing, moves your organs unnaturally and generates pain. The fact is, corsets should never do this and, if they are, then someone has done something very wrong indeed.
Costume designers have a responsibility to make actors feel at ease in their clothing and, most importantly, keep them safe. It would seem that on the set of Bridgerton corners were being cut. Netflix's Bridgerton is set around 1813, and while the show is highly historically inaccurate, the costumes follow the Regency trends of the time. Hidden beneath the empire waistlines and column skirts should sit a pair of stays atop a shift. Stays are an earlier form of corset featuring boning and hand-sewn eyelets, while a shift is a linen or cotton underdress which protects your body from your clothes, and your clothes from your sweat, smell and dead skin. During the Regency era, short stays were popular to aid in creating the desired silhouette of pushing the bust up as much as possible (sort of like a historical push-up bra!) and stopping before hitting the waist. Due to their shape, Regency short stays are often considered one of the most comfortable forms of underwear throughout history and it would really take a lot of malpractice to make such a garment unfathomably uncomfortable.
So, what went wrong here? In the opening scenes of episode one of season one, we see one of the Featherington mob being tightlaced into a full-length corset. Later into the season, we witness Daphne in her stays (the correct style), however, she is not wearing a shift. Both of these examples may have caused pain for the actresses involved and could have been avoided.
The man behind the corsets on the show is the legendary Mr Pearl, the corset maker behind some of the world's most famous corset moments dressing Dita Von Teese and designing for Alexander McQueen Jean Paul Gaultier. Mr Pearl, who is an avid wearer of corsets himself, is a remarkable talent within the industry, however, he creates fashion pieces. In this particular setting, 12-hour-long shoot days in historically inspired garments, practicality should be prioritised. While Mr Pearl has made custom pieces for some of the cast, it is evident that these pieces are still not fit for their purpose.
No actor should suffer for a pretty costume and a desired silhouette (especially when said silhouette is not even correct for the time period!). Every time an actress shares her experience, which she is more than right to do, the general public buys into the narrative that corsets are dangerous. When fitted correctly and worn with current underpinnings, stays/corsets should function no differently than a bra providing support and shape to the wearer.
