18th Century Women’s Stays

Last updated: Jan 7, 2024

The Galerie des Modes (1778) offers some interesting commentary on stays:

People have complained much, these days, against this interior part of Ladies' dress. Some Doctors have alleged that it is disastrous, especially for the young; others have wanted to to establish its use among old men; but despite all these complaints, Ladies continued to wear stays, and they have not become weaker, nor less well-made. Experience demonstrates, to the contrary, that well-proportioned stays are nearly always useful; its only imperfection can make it dangerous.

Stays are of diverse types; some have straight straps; others have off-the-shoulder straps: these only serve for Court dress, and always lace in the back. There are also stays without straps, these are heavily used in England; they lace in the front or the back, or on the sides, like the first.

The two sides and the back of the stays are composed of several fabrics sewn together, with whalebone. On the front, there are two channels to pass two other whalebone stays through: these are called the busks …

This fitted garment is placed immediately on the shift, and it is to it only that women derive their torsos' rounded shape, pointed at the bottom; a unique shape, and which always, before marriage, can be regarded as one of the distinctive attributes of honor.

Textiles noted with entries below are generally the exterior fabric, unless the lining-fabric is unusual.

(Children’s stays can be found here; there are also notebook pages on women who aren’t wearing stays and women with exposed stays.)

Met C.I.46.82.13, linen, 18th century
National Trust 1349939, green wool, c. 1700-1750
National Trust 1348926, natural jean
PMA 1903-136, glazed wool twill, England or America, c. 1725-1750
LACMA 63.24.5, silk with weft-float patterning, France, c. 1730-1740
LACMA M.57.24.1, silk moire, England, c. 1730-1740
National Museums Scotland, red linen exterior and cream linen interior, English, c. 1730-1750
Fries Museum T1947-044, wool damask, c. 1730-1760
Nordiska museet NM.0022164, brocade, c. 1730-1770
Stays, linen, c. 1740-1760
Colonial Williamsburg 1935-96, natural-colored linen stays boned with wood or reed and bound with leather, England (possibly worn in America), 1740-1760
Colonial Williamsburg 1964-405, green worsted satin, made in England or America (worn in New York) 1740-1760
Manchester 1947.1622, glazed woolen damask, Britain, c. 1740-1760
National Trust 814614.2, undyed linen, c. 1740-1760
PMA 1903-135, glazed wool twill, England or America, mid-18th century
LACMA M.81.220.1, silk, Italy, c. 1750
Christies Lot 307, Sale 5422: A fine set of fully boned stays, cream wool over linen ground, with white kid binding, mid-18th century
National Trust 1349937, pink silk tabby with moss green wool tabs, 1750-1760
MoMu T12/1052/O10, linen reinforced with chamois leather, Netherlands, 1750-1770
Museum Rotterdam 20954, cream linen, c. 1750-1770
Winterthur 1952.0275, c. 1750-1780
MFA 43.561, blue silk damask, printed linen lining; France, 1750
FIT 99.79.3, multicolor silk brocade, France, c. 1750
FIT 68.144.14, brocaded silk, France, c. 1750
FIT 2016.8.2, silk and suede, England, c. 1750-1760
Stays, c. 1750-1760
Nordiska museet NM.0004796, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1760
Nordiska museet NM.0001007, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1770
Met C.I.39.13.206a, b, silk-covered corset, c. 1750-1775
Nordiska museet NM.0194150, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1799
National Trust 1349941, fawn linen, c. 1750-1800
National Trust 1349940, fustain, c. 1750-1800
MRAH, silk, c. 1750-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-336, brown tabby wool front-lacing stays, possibly America, 1760-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-329, leather stays for an adolescent, England, 1760-1780
A set of stays from the Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Museum attributed to the Billinghurst family, linen, c. 1760? 1780?
From Fitting & Proper: “Woman’s stays, c. 1765, a pair of back-laced stays, brown linen lined with white linen, interlined with beige linen, fully boned”
Connecticut Historical Society 1983.162.5, stays for a four- or five-year-old girl, linen, c. 1765-1775
Connecticut Historical Society 1995.181.0, linen stays lined with tow and bound with white leather, c. 1765-1775
Met C.I.50.8.2: silk and linen with leather, wood, and baleen, France, late 1760s
PVMA 1880.015.01, satin weave wool, lined with blue and white check linen, bound with white leather, c. 1765-1775
Colonial Williamsburg 1986-111, silk brocade, France or Italy, c. 1765, probably altered in c. 1775-1790 (alteration for breastfeeding)
Historic New England 1936.409, embossed wool with seams covered in green wool tape, c. 1770
FIT P82.1.16, silk stays with tied-on sleeves, c. 1770
Tailleur d’habits et tailleur de corps in Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1771
Connecticut Historical Society 1983.162.2, “Woman's stays, with a triangular center front panel, and tabs around the bottom edge. They close at center back with a spiral lacing. The original front covering fabric appears to have been plain tan cotton, over a plain linen interlining. The boning is baleen. The stays were originally professionally made and were of high quality, but they were extremely worn and then heavily patched and padded with soft leather and relined with plain cotton.” c. 1775
Connecticut Historical Society 1983.162.3, brown linen stays with baleen boning, bound with white leather, originally constructed in the 1770s but modified in the 1780s
Colonial Williamsburg 1994-27, child’s stays in cream ribbed tabby silk, England, c. 1775
Met C.I.40.173.6a-e: silk, Italy, 1770s
Colonial Williamsburg 1960-729, cream silk satin, England, 1770-1785
MoMu T12/123/O11, silk damask, Netherlands, 1770-1790
Augusta 8.4833.85.177, tan cotton lined with homespun linen, England, c. 1775-1785
Connecticut Historical Society 1983.162.6, plain linen stays for a girl, c. 1775-1780
V&A T.909-1913, stays covered in silk damask, lined with linen, reinforced with whalebone, England, 1770-1790
Maria Niforos EI-1, linen; attached note: “These stays were worn the first time Jan 14th 1779 by Miss Susanna Lincoln of Taunton on her Wedding day.”
Meg Andrews 6904, twill weave cotton, c. 1780
Colonial Williamsburg 1986-45, beige cotton stays, England, c. 1780
Christies Lot 3330, Sale 4981: A fine corset, linen covered and lined fully boned long body, with elegant silk cord decorative lacing to the front, shaped and boned tabs at the lower edge, 1780s
Connecticut Historical Society 1983.162.4, brown cotton stays made in the 1780s and recut in the early 19th century
Philadelphia Museum of Art 1998-162-51a,b, cotton plain weave, made in the United States, late 18th century
V&A T.172-1914, pink jean linen with blue silk, England, c. 1780-1790
Museum of London 49.91/1, brown cotton twill corset with front-tied shoulder straps and center-back lacing, c. 1780-1795
DAR 2505, yellow linen corset bound in white leather, probably deerskin, made by Ruth Stephens of Massachusetts c. 1785-1795
National museet NM.0009162, camlet, Sweden, c. 1780-1820
Historic New England 1966.39, homespun, c. 1790
Monmouth County Historical Association 864, possibly made in New Jersey, c. 1790-1800; “A pair of woman's stays, constructed from four panels, with rear lacing closure. The stays have a straight front, dipping to a point above the abdomen. A center interior casing contains a simple wooden busk. The stays' front point is thickly padded with wool and chamois leather and appears to have been reinforced or additionally padded after its initial construction. The upper edge of the stays is bound with off-white cotton tape, while kid leather is used as a heavy duty binding along the hip areas. Two applied rectangular hip tabs are located at both sides of the stays. The lower points at the bottom edges of the back lacing closure are padded for ease in wear. Each side of the stays includes seven hand sewn eyelets. Narrow shoulder straps of brown cotton twill are sewn to the rear top edges at the shoulder area, and can be brought forward over the wearer's shoulders and tied to the front of the stays with narrow off-white cotton ties. Narrow off-white cotton tape fragments remain in portions of the eyelets. The stays are boned with baleen (whalebone) inserted into narrow interior channels. On the inside of the stays, a heavy 1/2" wide iron strap, formed into a half-circle, is sewn into a horizontal casing of tan linen and attached one inch below the top edge of the stays.”

18th Century Women’s Stays

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