(From top) Model Sanjukta sports a corset with a layered skirt, a bridal sari, and a cocktail drape. Pictures by Pabitra Das. Make-up by Aniruddha Chakladar. Location courtesy: The Park

They help create an hour-glass figure ? tucking in the waist, enhancing the cleavage and lending a slimmer, sexier look to the feminine form.

Corsets have been in fashion since time immemorial. They were a rage in the Renaissance period and continued to be a hit in the Victorian era, when the desire to reduce the waist and exaggerate the bustline made them popular, mainly as lingerie.

Today, corsets are back in fashion with a bang, but with a difference. They’re being paraded down the catwalks and flaunted by modern brides as tops and blouses, teamed with skirts, lehngas and saris.

Designer Sunipa Samadder, who admits her fascination for “corsets and the art of corsetry”, traces the history of the garment.

“Corsets have a meaningful evolution. They started as ‘stays’, which were originally two pieces of stiffened fabric worn on the back and front of the body, and laced. In the 17th century the garment was known as ‘body’. In the 18th century, stays were composed of rows of whale bone, which was wrapped around and tied at the back.

Fashion changed considerably in the early part of the 19th century and by the middle of it, the stiff, tightly-laced shape was back in favour and remained so till the 20th century. In the second half of the 19th century, the word ‘corset’ began to replace stays. In 1947, the ‘waspie’ emerged to create tiny waists of the new-look era.”

Sunipa demonstrates three looks, created with corsets of three different kinds, on model Sanjukta, for Goodlife.

Trendy teens

Not just long-flowing ones , corsets are today paired with skirts of every kind ? be it short leather ones, micro-mini knife-pleated ones or high-slit long straight-fit ones. And why just skirts, corsets go just as well with fitted capris.

Sunipa has teamed a white, layered, asymmetric and multi-panelled skirt with a Prince’s Panelled corset.

“One panel of the corset is of embroidered silver-coated leather and the other is of red raw silk. The two chords of the corset wrap around the arms and can be taken around the neck to give a halter-boned bodice look. The blend of the two textures ? rough-grained raw silk and smooth leather ? opens an array of team-up options,” says the designer.

“The look Sanjukta sports here is very trendy and girlie,” she adds.

Cocktail chic

“Not too many people think of teaming a corset with a sari, but it can be done to great effect,” promises Sunipa.

To give Sanjukta a “global, multi-faceted look”, a corset embroidered with white lace, panelled with black raw silk and zipped at the back has been paired with a black and white Oriental-look sari . The sari is embellished with multi-coloured tissue appliques, beads and metal wires.

“This corset has a bust-complementing shape and can be worn very well with a lot of silhouettes other than the sari,” says Sunipa. Woollen trousers and front-open jackets, trenchcoat-style jackets and cigarette pants, flowing skirts, tweed short skirts, kick-pleat or pencil skirts are the other garments she recommends.

“While one can wear it with the sari for a cocktail party in the evening, the look can easily be transformed by teaming the same garment with a cigarette pant for a night out,” explains Sunipa.

Bridal beauty

Corsets have quite easily replaced cholis in wedding attire, with the garment paired with lehngas for a more sophisticated look. But Sunipa goes a step further by draping a bridal sari over one. “Rich-hued brocade corsets with shaped cups and detachable collars go very well with saris because of the choli shape. They are also a perfect match for flowing Indian skirts like chhaniya, lachha, ghagra, garara, pawadai, and lungi,” she says.

The corset she has used is back-laced to enhance the waist shape, while the collar makes the neck look longer and hides flaws. The deep purple opulent sari is embellished with floral embroidery done with antique gold metal wires. “The look here is suitable for marriage parties and Indian occasion wear,” assures the designer.