West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 2 November 1895, page 10


FIGURE TRAINING AT A FASHION-

ABLE BOARDING SCHOOL.

REVELATIONS BY A PUPIL.

Now that arbiters of fashion are predicting a return of the " wasp " waist, details of the system of " figure training " in vogue at a fashionable Highgate boarding-school in the early sixties may, writes a contributer to an English exchange, prove of interest to lady readers. I may explain that, in company with other books, in a job lot purchased at a sale not long ago, I became the possessor of a MS. diary of a school-girl, which gives full and interesting particulars of her boarding school life and experiences. From this source I cull the following particulars of the practice in question:—

January 17th, 1864.— Returned to school to-day. Miss T— is pleased that mother is satisfied with my figure. Norah M— has served me a very shabby trick in the holidays; her waist cannot be a bit larger than 16½ in., and she promised we'd reduce together. I shall get Jane to pull mine in before I get into bed to-night, though I'm as tight as can be now.

January 29th.— This morning Madame L— came and fitted all the girls in our class with new corsets. I have been horribly uncomfortable in mine all day. Katie A— cried all last night at having to sleep in her stays. Fancy a girl of sixteen not having been made to do so long ago; and she says her father is very rich, and that they keep a lot of company. I shouldn't care to let my-self out, to have all the trouble of being pulled in again in the morning. Miss T— showed me mother's letter, saying that she had seen Lady de W—'s daughter at a

house ball, who danced beautifully, and

created a great amount of admiration with her 14 in. waist. So Miss T-- says that I

am to made the same size. How I shall be able to eat and move about I can't think;

but Madge G—, who left last term, and who was that size, said you feel awfully smart, and, in fact, rather a pleasant sensa-

tion when you get used to the pulling in.

February 2nd.—The new Fraulein has come. She has a splendid figure; I wish mine were only as good. She told Agnes V— that she hardly had any need to lace at all

now; she was tightened when only twelve. Miss T— said after prayers that Fraulein had a new system of figure training which we girls would haye tried on us as an experi-

ment. February 3rd.-- Fraulein's system seems rather different to Miss T—'s. When she

came into our room this morning, she care-fully examined all our figures, and says that we are in the future not to lace our busts or our hips so tightly. To-morrow or the next day we girls are all to have our "tapes," as Fraulein calls them, and she has been busy all day with Jane making them.

February 4th.— We were all given our "tapes" this morning; Fraulein seeing that

they were put on properly, and explaining the of stout webbing about 2 in. wide, at one end of which is a strong buckle. In marking ink Fraulein has indicated inches, half-inches, and quarter-inches; each of the latter repre senting, so she explained to me, a month's reduction by her system. As I am already 17 in., and expect to leave school in rather

less than a year, I shall have, she says, to follow her directions implicitly if I intend to gratify mother with, the sized waist she wishes me to have upon coming out. The new corset I am now wearing fits me beauti-fully, and although I cannot stoop much in it, or sit very comfortably, on account of the extra-stiff whalebones, my figure is immensely

improved, Miss T— tells me. When Jane had pulled the corset close to within a little more than an inch, the belt was fastened securely. I, with the rest of the girls, was made to undress inthe middle of the after-noon to-day to let Fraulein see that the tape had not perceptibly stretched.

February 5th.— We were told to wear our

easier corsets at night, though they were drawn in to the same size as the day ones. I think that I should feel very funny without them now, although they were so uncomfort-able at first.

This system appears to have been carried out in the case of all the girls, and although there are several incidental references to

this or that fellow-pupil being unwell, an entry in the diary under the date of June 11th (evidently referring to some remarks

made by an unnamed person) says: "Not withstanding what she told me, I don't for an instant believe taht to have a very small waist hurts one. I'm sure none of us are worse in health than other girls. The Wil-liams', for instance, who for all their big, clumsy waists, are always having headaches."

etc.

Another entry, made, about, a week, before the fair diarist left school in what we should now call the Easter term, puts on record that the desired 14 in. is nearly reached: "I have not been able to get my new stays quite close,

and Fraulein advises me to wait a week or two before again attempting to do so. This morning. Fraulein and two of the girls laced me in fairly easily to 14½in. The former is very proud of my figure, which I must admit is very fashionable, and the envy of Norah, of which I am not sorry. ... After an hour or two, I got quite used to the sensation,

which, as Fraulein told me it would be, is not very unpleasant, the pain which I scarcely knew how to bear for an hour or so having quite gone. My hips and. waist feel rather numb, but that, Fraulein tells me, will pass

off. At all events, I shall have the two dresses mother promised me at Christmas if I came back with a really small waist and a good figure."

The diary contains an entry about six weeks later, recording: "'My, new corsets are now laced quite close from top to bottom, making my waist 14in. Mother promises me two pairs of satin, what I have been much wish-ing for, as Franlein says they are better than any others, and fit the figure so beautifully if

well cut."

This interesting record of a subject always leading to renewed controversy is continued for some nine months after the fair owner had left school. It contained an entry relating to a visit from her friend, Norah—, who "came to see me this afternoon, and told me that her waist is now only 13in., which I don't believe; but if it is, she must have pulled into that just to come and see me with." Incidentally there occurs in the other pages a reference to the girls at this school being laced in so awfully tight that "most of us do not sleep well, because the stays hurt greatly when lying down." It would appear that the writer of the diary had a waist of 23in. when first sent to the school,

"which was at once reduced to 19in."—the governess seeing that the girl's stays were "drawn in as tightly as they ought to be." Another entry records " after about half an hour each morning I suffered no pain at all" —proving, if any proof save common sense were needed, the truth of the French maxim, "One must suffer to be pretty," namely, to have a good figure.

This diary records that (after comparing "feelings with the other girls in my room") few of these tight lacing young ladies "suffer anything, except the pain caused by the excessive tightness of our stays." I am able to gather that the girls themselves were, some of them at least, far from being dis-inclined for the systematic "training" of

their unfortunate waists. And at least two

instances are mentioned of girls who laced, or were laced, to 13in.

These may seem incredible sizes, and the present writer, indeed, felt almost so inclined to regard them, though of the genuine nature of the diary there could be no question. A letter of inquiry to a long estab-lished, well known firm of fashionable corsetières has, however, elicited a confir-matory reply. "I think it very probable," writes the manageress, "that tighter lacing will be fashionable. As to your other queries, I may say that we often make corsets of 17in., and those of 18in. are by no means so rare as might be supposed. We have made at least two pairs of no more than 16in. during last year. Referring back to our order-books of the period you mentioned, I find that we made many pairs of 17in. and 16in., several also of 15in., and 14½ in, but none smaller. I myself remember perfectly my predecessor stating that extremely tight lacing was enforced, or at least greatly enocuraged, at several schools for which the firm made twenty-five or twenty-six years ago."