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not very likely.


 Posted by P. Bingham on February 27, 1998 at 14:07:06:


In response to would Lizzy have..., written by Emmy on February 26, 1998 at 23:35:21


To L and T indexCorsets were unusual during this period, especially for a beautiful young woman like Lizzy.  If she was older, and had a middle like an old tire (I don't mean to offend!) then perhaps she might wear one.  Some ladies didn't wear anything at all under thier clothes, and at the beginning of the century, some of the ladies even wet thier gowns to give them the statuesque effect (this stopped when the ladies started dropping like flies due to severe colds!).  The general piece would have been a thin shift, perhaps a petticoat but even these were not overly common.  With the waist so high, you could imagine, a corsett was not really needed and it would have ruined that natural, flowing effect that the regency women were after.  Drawers, petticoats and corsetts just started to become common towards the end of the Regency and as the waist dropped they become more and more prevelant.
Also, regarding Pride & Prejudice:  This story was originally written at the end of the 18th-century and Jane Austen changed it here and there before it finally sold much later.  I've seen the Laurence Olivier version (in which he plays Darcy) and it was definately 1890 or so, as the skirts were still quite full and the waist had not really risen yet.  In this version, Lizzy probably would have worn a corsett.  The version we are more accustomed to is the Regency one and, in that case, Lizzy probably would not have worn a corsett.  Her mother probably stuffed herself in one though!
Patricia 





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