I remember as a young child marveling at the contraption that my grandmother would strap herself into on a daily basis, usually just before my grandfather was due home from work. She would busy herself making herself look presentable for when and if he arrived.

Being a rather large woman, she would lace herself into a large pink corset that came complete with a brassiere and suspender straps attached. This all in one contraption would bind her into a round ball.

Next would come the stockings, followed by a clean dress and apron. Then she would run a comb through her hair and put on some lipstick. And so she was all ready for my grandfathers arrival.

For her normal daytime wear, my grandmother would put on a separate bra and corset that I would help her lace up as she got older. This corset was constructed of panels with whalebone stays that would keep her nice and tidy, as she would say.

I thought the whole thing was sheer torture and could not understand why she would subject herself to such practices. But she was simply behaving in the manner that society decreed she should, being a good and dutiful wife.I always thought those corsets were designed to keep women trapped in the old ways and vowed never to wear anything so constricting.

Now days looking fabulous is so much easier and corsets are much more comfortable to wear plus there is a great range of figure shaping garments available .

Believe me the corsets in my Grandmothers day looked nothing like this.