1500-1700 Corset

            During this time, corsets were known as Stays or "a pair of bodies". The neckline is relatively high and the chest pressed flat rather than pushed. The torso was straight, conical lined. Very few stays from this time have been preserved. This may be because until well into the 1600s the bodice of the dress  itself was stiffened so an extra corset was unnecessary. Towards the end of the 1600s the shaping stays became a piece of the clothing independent from the dress bodice. Ladies dressed in a combination of jacket,skirt, and/or robe worn over a stiff bodice that had been demoted to underwear, rather than a combination of skirt and siff bodice.