Saturday, March 1, 2008

The great myth of the "Venus corset"

There should be little mystery that my female aesthetic focus has magnetically pulled towards the looks and attitudes of the 1940's and 50's. From the hairdos, the bright red lipstick, and the seamed stockings to the corseted waists, lack of pants and - yes - their fetish for bondage.

I adore cartoons. I watched them non-stop as a child, citing many of them as the provider for life's lessons. I can say without any doubt that the damsel-in-distress so often portrayed in hand-drawn animation struck a tuning fork deep in my chest. I also developed many crushes on the cartoon girls that pranced across the screen. From Disney's library of screen heroine's, the first of which i fancied was the sleeping beauty Aurora, to the big, doe-eyed fanciful creatures of Tex Avery.

I'll never forget the particular marvelous Saturday afternoon that introduced me to and the imprint it delivered through this playful update of a classic story.



Almost as if my burgeoning sexuality had been sent on a once-in-a-lifetime shopping spree, all the things that would eventually serve as the foundations for my fetishes could be found in this illustrated play. I was sold on the sharp, heavy outlines of the 40's and 50's, the long fairy-like eyelashes that fluttered an awfully enticing code, and the wicked, accentuated curves.

When i finally arrived on the complete ordnance of objects that would - revolving around in my head - bring about sexual satisfaction, i looked to this era for real life examples. To my young eyes, it appeared to be the last time period these sort of female accoutrements were seriously deployed. Women truly enjoyed the exclusive statement on femininity their hair, makeup, footwear, and, most importantly, undergarments declared.

I pushed myself to explore as much material that existed on this period of feminine constraint, and in tune pushed the range of my own desire further. My search brought me to the darker recesses of the quaint 1950's attitude. It was here i first encountered the artwork of Eric Stanton.

Very quickly, i swam in an ocean of wickedness, male chauvinism, aggressive pursuit, and hunger - pure, unmitigated hunger. In the privacy of my chamber, i enjoyed what my eyes flowed over, but were anyone to ask me in public if i endorsed this material, i would have abdicated. Gone were the peppy housewives of the 40's and 50's, replaced by the extricated female objects whose limbs were contorted and abducted, only to be corralled for the pleasure of their male master.

Among these shockingly arousing panels of the works of Stanton and others of his time, i encountered the device known as the Venus corset:



























The one just above and to the left does the best to exhibit why this corset is called the "Venus". Quite literally, it was imagined to also constrict the wearer's arms behind her back with the same lacing that cinched in her waist. The effect had the subject resembling the very famous Aphrodite sculpture from the ancient Greek town of Milo. Illustration after illustration demonstrated this innovative contraption. To my eye, every single female above is striking and beautiful in this pose, and seeing this, i was sold. I knew i wanted one.

And thus began the great myth. Over a decade of searching, i've never found one. Corset site after corset site, and no one, from what i've seen, has offered their own prototype. The closest i came was a corset that had an attached single-glove armbinder with integrated back lacing. But, alas, i have never discovered an actual arm-encapsulating device.

Perhaps someone could felicitously prove me wrong.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can get one made, there are plenty of good corsetiers that can do this.

Have a look at www.staylace.com and ask on there.

oatmeal girl said...

ok. you win.

every so often, you post these scary essays, with scary pictures, and i write in and tell you that you'ved scared me again, and you reply that of course, that is your goal.

but this time... this time i thought here we go again. but then i came upon that panel from Captives of the Scientists and i don't know why exactly but i started twitching and swelling and flooding and all those sorts of embarrassing reactions indicative of extreme arousal. and the sight of her ankles chained to the rings in the floor didn't help any.

you're awfully good at flushing out dark desires that i didn't even know i had.

wicked man.

Deity said...

anon,
i'm an avid and longtime fan of l.i.s.a, thank you for your link.

the point wasn't to have a corsetier make this for me (which i have a few really good ones on call), but my perplexion as to why it hadn't been made already.

o.g.,
i have many more pictures from the "Captives of the Scientists" collection. it's one of my favorites.

i'm happy to hear your anatomy has effectively won you over.

Allison said...

i am new to the idea of even thinking about wearing a corset, but i wonder, is the reason that you have not found a Venus corset because there is no way to really wear one effectively?
Im not saying that you couldn't have one made, rather, that in order for the waist to be the desired size would the shoulders be able to withstand the stretching?
it could be that i am rather inflexible, but i tried to force my arms into a position that would allow for the waist to be cinched as well as the arms to be bound and i felt as if they were about to pop out of the sockets!
Im just having an extreme bout of curiosity!
With all that said, my guy and I are new to your blog and have been very much enjoying reading it together. He also has encouraged me to read your girl's site and i am quite taken with it.

Deity said...

gwenivereelaine,
if you're able to touch your elbows behind your back, you should be able to manage them being laced at the same width of your waist in a corset. are you familiar with a reverse prayer position? this really compacts the arms in between the shoulder blades, and could easily fit into the back paneling of a modified corset.

enjoy and welcome to these pages, however, i do find my girl's site a touch more interesting than mine. i'm glad you like it too.

Anonymous said...

Reading your opinions I notice how much our views have in common. Probably the best way to explain this would be for you to look at this link to my own Photo bucket album here http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/Snagsch/SL_Main/Katie/
I suggest watching the video clip here http://s298.photobucket.com/albums/mm245/Snagsch/SL_Main/Katie/?action=view&current=Katie.flv

Niffirgan@yahoo.co.uk

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking that the main reason it doesn't exist isn't so much that it's an impossible pose, but rather that when applied to reality, it's not one single part. You may need one piece to corset the body, one piece to restrain the arms, and if desired, a third piece to make it all look uniform. In that sense it may be that it does exist, but the parts are "sold separately"