Corsets have been worn for centuries to transform a woman’s figure. The corset is designed to both push up and enhance the breasts, or to flatten them and to cinch the waist into a smaller shape.

Drawings of women wearing bodices made from animal hides laced down the front were discovered at the Neolithic archaeological site at Brandon in Norfolk, England. It is believed that the primitive corset was molded to the woman’s body while it was fresh. There were also a number of stone dolls dressed in corsets that tied with the sinew of birds and small animals were also found.

Around 1700 BC, Minoan women typically wore fitted and laced corsets that left the breasts exposed. The artwork of the period depicts Minoan men as having tiny waists, and it is believed that tight belts were used on young boys in order to train their waists into a small shape.