Sometimes I want to tell people things they probably already realized long before me, but I've never heard anyone say. Like how girls photographed in bikinis in the late 50s early-60s have really angular shapes, not seen today. AND IT'S BECAUSE THEY WERE PREVIOUSLY IN CORSETS.

I'm not talking about skinny or anything, just like cinched.

The day it came to me, after puzzling for a long time, I felt so much relief.

That waist was in a corset in a previous life. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/woman-ticket-wearing-bikini-1957/

And maybe not a full corset. But just a decade before bikini, the dress of the day demanded serious training. This is the Dior New Look. So all of these women got into their bikinis with a seriously narrow waist. And people have been trying to reproduce that look ever since...

...but without corsets! Which is wild and depressing really. Unobtainable. You can see the corset line. Now you will see it everywhere!

This is what I decided in my own time about a thing that puzzled me. I have no costume history background. But I think I have closed the case, which maybe was not a mystery to anyone but me.

Here's a great last example. The line across the top of her belly button. That is the thing. That's a long time of being cinched up finally free.

I hope this has been a distraction for everyone. I've been wanting to share my thoughts on the early-bikini'd waist for a long time.

Corsets! Corsets as in corsetry. As in shapewear of the day. Girdles and all the works. That's all.

You cannot get a corseted look from working out. Unless maybe while wearing a corset?