Get waisted: Your guide to wearing a corset, the right way
No need to faint. Everyone seems to be in their corset era, but no one looks as out of breath as they used to be. The ladies in Bridgerton (Netflix’s raunchy, Regency-period drama) seem to do just fine in theirs. And every celebrity, from Bella Thorne and Sydney Sweeney to Janhvi Kapoor and Ananya Panday, have been lacing themselves in at every opportunity.
It’s a long-standing fashion quick-fix. Squeeze into one, get an assistant to tighten the stays at the back, and a nipped-in waist magically appears, the bust gets lifted, a cleavage is conjured from thin air, the posture gets straighter, the silhouette becomes an hourglass. But shopping for a corset can be a Victorian nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing. Celebrity stylists Shaleena Nathani, Priyanka Yadav, Priyanka Kathuria and Manish Mishra, who have dressed Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Karisma Kapoor, share their best hacks on buying your first corset.
Bring out the measuring tape. Corsets look like they squeeze almost every kind of body into an hourglass shape. But they’re not free-sized. So don’t pick one randomly off the shelf and hope for a miracle. “They’re all about fit,” says Priyanka Yadav. “The right corset should feel like it’s holding, not suffocating you.” This means paying attention to the midsection – the corset’s and your own. “Corset sizing is based on waist measurement,” says Priyanka Kathuria. It should feel tight around the waist and tummy, and roomier around the chest and hips. But you should still be able to take a full breath. “The skin at your upper arms should not bulge or leave a gap,” Kathuria adds. It should boost the bust, but not bulge at the back.
Make the materials matter. Classic corsets have adjustable criss-cross lacing at the back or the sides. Modern ones have rows of hooks or buttons, stretchy satin panels, or a pre-moulded shape and a determinedly strong zipper, so you don’t need help when putting them on. Some have built-in bust coverage, like a bra. Some stop just at the ribs. Either way “a tailormade corset will offer the best fit,” Shaleena Nathani says. Stick to solid colours, matte fabrics, with a zip-up style free of embellishment, so you can style it in many ways.
Do some shape shifting. “Certain shapes flatter specific body types,” says Yadav. Pay attention to the length and neckline. “A short corset makes the torso look shorter, but gives the illusion of more volume on the chest and hips. A longline one elongates the centre of the body, so you appear leaner, less hourglass,” says Nathani. Don’t sweat it. Kathuria says that so long as you have a corset that isn’t sagging or pinching, and you can sit in it, you’re fine. “Try on different styles and you’ll figure it out.”
Style it right. “There are two ways to style a corset well,” says Nathani. “For a Western look, get a voluminous, sheer, black organza shirt, fit the corset over it, and pull on a pair of wide-legged pants. For an Indian twist, wear the corset under a long zardozi coat and add a tissue-fabric lehenga.” There is, as always, a secret third way: Pair a flowing boho skirt with a fitted corset as a top, throw on a sleeveless jacket and layer it with jadau jewellery, Nathani says.
Yadav recently styled fashion editor Nandini Bhalla in an East-meets-West fit, layering an embellished black corset over a white shirt that was “pulled one way to make it a bare-shoulder look”. A pleated Kasavu saree was draped as a skirt, “with a paranda adding a fun element”. Kathuria has tips for making a single corset work in multiple ways: “Turn the one you wore with a lehenga into a streetwear outfit by pairing it with baggy pants, boots, an interlocked necklace, a stack of chunky gold bracelets and statement gold hoop earrings.”
Keep it a secret. Some dresses (even wedding gowns) come with built-in corsets that create the cinched shape without the bulk of an added girdle. Yadav endorses them because “they hold everything in place without showing through or looking bulky.” Other stylists are not so sure. “It depends on how uncomfortable you’re willing to be,” Nathani says, because they’re not as adjustable as a girdle worn separately.
Either way, the trick to enjoying your corset is to slowly get used to it by wearing it for a few hours at a time. They’re better for a cocktail party, where everyone’s standing around, nibbling on small bites, than at a seated, multicourse dinner. Leather corsets are best worn over clothes; softer fabrics play better on bare skin. The idea is to be compressed, never in pain.
And when you’re done wearing your corset, and can finally breathe easier, don’t toss it into the washing machine. “Clean any spots with a damp cloth, air dry it, and store it flat or wrapped in tissue so it keeps its shape,” Yadav recommends. For anything more serious, dry clean.
From HT Brunch, November 08, 2025
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