"The Correct Corset" (Australian Home Journal, October 1921)

 To corset or not to corset—that was the question in 1921.  The answer was yes... and no.

American Lady Corsets, 1921

The Corect Corset

Girls in general, says a writer, are divided to-day into two classes—those who wear corsets and those who don't!

Both, I think, are wrong, or rather, both are sometimes right and sometimes wrong, for corsets are like all other garments—there's a time to wear them and a time to take them off—even in the daytime.  Everyone should wear them in the daytime, and, this, for two reasons—if you don't you lose the support they give and therefore get twice as tired.  And also if you don't you will—whatever you like to say—get bigger, I mean, of course, bigger round the waist.

But—don't wear the terrible arrangements which some misguided people fasten themselves into.

Your corset should be short as possible, and above the waist be made of only a narrow band of elastic.  They should, when on, come barely above the waist.

And below it they should be very, very short.  As short as possible.

When evening comes and you get back from business, dress for dinner, go to the pictures, or do whatever you do of an evening, take them off.  Never wear corsets with an evening dress.

It's perfectly true that corsets, in reality, should be made of muscle—your own muscles—and not of whalebone, so, if your muscles are in proper working condition, you'll see no difference in your silhouette.  Which strikes me as a rather a nice way of putting it.

If you do see a difference—for the worse—it means that you haven't been doing those daily exercises you swore you would do—and so it serves you right.

National Style Book, Spring-Summer 1921

Also, upon reading this, it becomes very clear that the "corset" of 1921 was a very different beast from its Victorian predecessor.  It was well on its way to becoming the "girdle" of the mid-twentieth century.