How Does It Really Feel to Wear a Bridgerton-Inspired Corset

Since Netflix’s release of Bridgerton, Regency-era drama, the series has kept viewers hooked. In its first month, it reached 82 million viewers. Its clothing has also seen into our wardrobes. The global shopping platform Lyst saw a 123% increase in corset searches within the first four weeks after its release. Taut bodices were displayed on fall ’21 runways by Markarian, KNWLS and Prabal Gurung during Fashion Month in February. According to Lyst, the search for this constricting lingerie item increased 74% after Billie Eilish posed on British Vogue’s June cover wearing a variety of custom corsets from Gucci, Burberry and Mugler.

Eilish wasn’t the only celeb to wear the trend. While hosting SNL in May Miley Cyrus wore the Schiaparelli Corset. Katy Perry wore a Maticevski suit and black corset while filming American Idol. Dua Lipa looked stunning in a VivienneWestwood corset dress at the BRITs. MTV Movies & TV Awards, Yara Shahidi paired an Erdem bodice and an Adidas tracksuit with an Erdem bodice. During her SNL performance, Olivia Rodrigo wore a plaid VivienneWestwood corset.

One thing is certain for now: Fashion’s obsession for Regencycore won’t go away. What is it like to wear a corset in real life?

We tried a variety of styles from NSFW lingerie, to fashion-forward versions, such as the SKIMS waist trainer, boned Miaou styles (worn in season finale of Keeping Up With The Kardashians), to a sheer Savage x Fenty dress.

According to SKIMS’ site, the waist trainer is available in black or tan, and sizes XXS through 4X. It can be worn under clothing. Although it is made of neoprene, the corset was very constricting. It didn’t feel very comfortable under a gray fitted dress when we were running errands in the 90 degree weather. Even more so after eating three meals of pasta, plus dessert and triple the daily recommended amount of garlic bread. However, experts warned us that a corset would never be truly comfortable. Bridgerton costume designer Ellen Mirojnick said thst before the show’s premiere.

Although we were expecting a more authentic-to-history experience with the waist trainer, it wasn’t as painful as we thought. We also didn’t expect the more trendy corsets to be as restrictive. After a long day at work, we noticed a difference in our posture after wearing Miaou’s boning and power mesh styles. The Campbell mesh corsets and Imogene corsets look just as fashionable in person than they do on social media. Mirojnick said it in December that the Campbell mesh corsets and Imogene corsets created the appearance of a “blossoming breast” (which is what we wear).

Over the course of the week, we used the Campbell corset in several ways. We layered it over a silk mini-dress and paired it with Bermuda-length denim pants. We will be following Kardashian’s lead and pairing the Campbell corset with a matching mini skirt. We were inspired by her look and combined the brown-andwhite Imogene corset we made with black mini skirts and knee-high boots.

Rihanna’s third corset style felt less like a corset, despite having laces up the back or a dress as its name implies. It felt more like straight lingerie. The cups of the Savage X Fenty’s watercolor tie dye corset dress were completely transparent so we could not test it on the streets. However, the piece looked cute when worn in the bedroom.

We fell in love with corsets while we were doing this. We also sympathized with Bridgerton’s star Nicola Coughlan who said in December that corsets can give you a sense of relief after a long day. While we wouldn’t recommend wearing a waist trainer to eat three courses of Italian food, or a bone-in corset to work at the computer all day, corsets made our life much more enjoyable than we expected. They created the illusion of cleavage and held us in. We also found them to be a fun, sexy styling item in an otherwise simple outfit.

Coughlan stated that it is good to take yours off at the end. However, wearing one isn’t always bad, especially if it’s a fashionable one.