Lord and Taylor Department Store Catalog - c1881

The corset department  begins with the following:

"WITH THE CONTINUANCE of basques, fitting with armor-like exactness, not only in the waist but over the hips, the extra fit of the corset should be a matter of the greatest care. A badly fitting corset destroys the effect of the most elegant toilet. Corsets are quite short and quite long to suit the fancy of the wearer. There is scarcely any more tendency to the return of elaborate bustles than last year. It is the custom of most well-dressed ladies to wear a small bustle, more to support their skirts than to add fullness to the bouffant drapery." [Sept.22, 1881]

1] "Imperial"  corset made to order especially suited to stout figures, $10.

2]  French coutil ("Bernhardt"), abdominal corset, with narrow clasps, extra heavy bones, and side steels, 6.00.

3] French coutil, narrow clasps, extra long, 3.00, 3.25.

4] French coutil corset ("Lord & Taylor's Belt"), abdominal, broad side steels, laced, and with deep band of webbing for stout figures, 4.50.

5] French coutil corset (" The Jersey"), broad steels, 4.00

6] French coutil, corset according to quality and weight of bones, 1.75, 2.50, 3.75, 4.50, 5.

7] French coutil, broad steels, white or grey, 3.00.

8] Thompson's glove-fitting corset, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 4.

9]  French woven corset, according to quality, 1, 1.35, 1.75; embroidered, 2.25.

10] French woven corset, extra long, 1.50, 1.90, 2.25, 2.50.

11]  French woven, broad steels, for stout figures, 2.35.

12]  French corset of red rep, stitched in black or old-gold, 3.00

13] French Momie-Cloth corset, in pink, blue, buff and white, 2.50, 2.75.

14] "Our own," a good domestic corset, 1.00

15] French woven short corset, for evening dress or riding, about forty bones, 1.00 shorter, 1.75 six hundred bones, 2.00

16] Bridal corset: white, with embroidery, 3.25
white, with colored gores and embroidery, 3.50.

- Shopping at Lord & Taylor Women's Department in the 1950s

- Victorian Corsets