The most commonplace and well-known use of corsets is to slim the body and make it conform to a fashionable silhouette. For women this most frequently emphasizes a curvy figure, by reducing the waist, and thereby exaggerating the bust and hips (see photo). However, in some periods, corsets have been worn to achieve a tubular straight-up-and-down shape, which involves minimizing the bust and hips.

Stays went away in the put off 18th cetury, but the corset remained. Corsets in the primeval 19th Sexy Lingerie epoch lengthened to the hip, the lower tabs replaced by gussets at the hip. Play was made for the bust in forward with more gussets, and the back lowered. The bulldoze straps disappeared in the 1840s for normal wear.(Waugh 77)