skirtcafe.org

Any of you guys have any experience with corsetry? I discovered a business, Meschantes Corsetry, that makes them in Raleigh, NC, my old tramping ground and just a couple hours north of my present home, and I am considering indulging my curiosity. They have one supposedly designed for male proportions, and the prices are better than most online corseteers (is that a word?)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108110440/m ... =related-1

Hmm - that's something that almost no one of either gender considers these days. So you might not get any feedback of someone with experience with corsets.

John

Thought about it, curiosity again. But I haven't. I just want to lose a lot of weight!

There was one chap on here a couple of years ago, but who has since left the community, who mentioned corsets for guys a couple of times, and it turns out that they are still made, but they are not the sort of "extreme" ones that were in vogue for women in the Victorian era.

Even this old dog learns new things from time to time. I'd never heard of the notion before.

I *very* briefly toyed with the idea of corsetry to help me lose weight, but after reading more about the subject, I realized that's the wrong way to go about it. Done "right", in the sense of firmly cinching the waist in so you physically have less room in which to put food, corsetry can do serious -- and permanent -- damage to your internal organs. Done wrong, by which I mean you don't use such constrictive corsets, it's just decoration for fetishists and nothing that will have any effect on your waist.

Sad to say, diet and exercise are the only true path to fitting into that dandy skirt you saw in the thrift shop. Above all, count those calories! Only when calories in are less than calories out -- on the order of several hundred a day -- will you find your true shape.

Here are the two most striking photos I've seen on this:

http://fuckyeahmenincorsets.tumblr.com/post/62886863459
and
http://dungeonofdarkdapperanddebonair.t ... 4924370626

The only weight loss principle that works is what Ralph just posted. Getting the calories ingested to be moderately less than the calories burned works. Of the three times I've managed to drop 60+ pounds, twice was achieved doing Weight Watchers (the third involved 1+ hour per day at the gym). It was doing their older points system, which was a calorie counting system published in US patent 7,361,143 (each point was roughly 50 calories).

I have tried the odd corset or two about the time I started wearing skirts. Very tight and constrictive. They compressed too much in the crotch area for me to wear them for more than an hour or two. They made even tight trousers seem palatial in comparison. Maybe it was just because they weren't designed for men in that they not only pulled inwards but upwards as well! Ouch!

Corsets? Nahhhhh! Not my cup of tea. Admittedly, I do wear a body briefer when I venture out in skirts because it gives me a smoother profile, but that's it for me.

Guys' corsets typically aren't the sorts of "extreme" ones that the gals seem to go for, and not even all the gals' ones are extreme -- and they're not just for "fetishists".

A small bit of compression won't do any lasting damage, and I find that by the time I wind up with a pair of tights, a slip, sometimes a petticoat, and then a skirt over that the amount of elastic around the waist does inhibit appetite a bit which, if one takes in the number of calories to keep one ticking over, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As far as a corset pulling "up", that's a new one on me. All the corsets I've seen -- without exception -- have been open at the bottom. Is there perhaps confusion with what's known as a "panty girdle"? (positively ghastly things if you ask me)

I have an inquiry in with Meschantes. Im not going for extremes, but they say with long term use, you can alter your shape, and that intrigues me...guess i have a perverse curiosity, but I don't really want tats or piercings, so maybe this will be my midlife crisis body mod, LOL.

Try an open bottom girdle.

I have been interested in experimenting with a "corset" but not for pulling the waist in. I feel that is trying to copy a female outline, and that's not what I want. I am visualising something like an ornate vest, or waistcoat. The intention is for decoration, and for back "training" i.e. keeping me in mind of my posture. Something like a brocade, with hints or styles reminiscent of a corset. I like the idea of the cross gender look, but with a male shape. I am not sure if it work better having the skirt over or under the vest. if under, it would have to incorporate a small flair at the bottom of the vest. The strappy look is one that I like.

Partlyscot,
I'm well intrigued by your "description" ,if you ever achieve that look, be sure to show the result.
To my mind you're describing a "bodice", not a corset or a girdle.
A well fitted waistcoat, or vest, if you prefer could work.
Get in touch with a friendly tailor/designer, who knows where it might end?
All it takes is a bit of imagination and you've made something unique.
Steve.

JohnH wrote:Hmm - that's something that almost no one of either gender considers these days. So you might not get any feedback of someone with experience with corsets.

John

I actually know quite a few gals that wear them at least part of the time - but I run with some Goth gals!

I've never tried one, but am not adverse to it. Am about to order a Goth skirt with a "corset top" - not a "real" corset by any means, but a way to dip my toe in the water...

STEVIE wrote:A well fitted waistcoat, or vest, if you prefer could work.

This. Waistcoats are a wonderful staple of most any wardrobe -- and paired off with other items of clothing (e.g. loose and flowing looks) can be amazing. Waistcoats are not designed to be particularly tight (as in mildly constricting), and if you get them too small the buttons will eventually get pulled off and the overall look will be wrong.

A corset is another thing entirely, and is designed to put varying degrees of compression on the torso. From what I am given to understand, the male corset is more like a compression-belt of the type designed to reduce back injury and strain; they aren't boned like women's corsets, especially the "extreme" ones which is what everyone thinks of, because those can be quite moderate as well.

Get in touch with a friendly tailor/designer, who knows where it might end?
All it takes is a bit of imagination and you've made something unique.

You can never go wrong that way so long as your wallet is fat enough.