The Corset: Facts, Legacies and Misconceptions with Dr Sarah Bendall

We are in the midst of a corset resurgence with celebrities, social media influences and most fashion retainers wearing or selling some form of ‘corset’. While corsets might be fashion now, they were a vital part of women's everyday dress for nearly 400 years, worn in the courts of Europe, in the parlours of middle-class households and even on the Victorian goldfields.  

Join Dr. Sarah Bendall as she uncovers this controversial garment, how it evolved, and why it was worn, ideas about comfort and practicality, sexuality and eroticism, and the idea of women being oppressed by these garments. Sarah hopes to complicate the already complicated history of the corset, and possibly challenge the assumptions that some people have about these garments and the women who wore them. 

Sarah will present an engaging and thought-provoking history, followed by an interactive, object-handling session, where guests are able to examine a variety of historical corsets that have been skilfully recreated.

Sarah will also share insights on the specialist techniques required for historical reconstruction of garments. 

Dr Sarah A. Bendall is a Senior Lecturer at the Gender and Women’s History Research Centre in the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University. She is a material culture historian whose research examines the roles of gender in the production, trade and consumption of global commodities and fashionable consumer goods between 1500-1800. She is author of Shaping Femininity (Bloomsbury, 2021) and currently writing her next book The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens (Bloombury). She is also Co-investigator on the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK grant, The Making Historical Dress Network, which examines recreative and experimental methods in dress history.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This program is generously supported by The Sir Wilfred and C H (Roger) Brookes Charitable Trust.

Image: Italian, Corset, 1770s, silk The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, C.I.40.173.6a–e