ASTER

Eight shaped pieces to each side of the body, cut narrow through the waist and released over the rib and the hip. Every additional seam costs time on the cutting table and time at the machine, and every one of them earns it back — as circumference removed where it should be removed, and as a channel for another bone.

Fourteen spiral steel bones sit at the shaping seams, where the body curves in two directions at once and a flat bone would simply fight it. Two flat steels sit either side of the lacing, holding that edge straight against the tension of thirty-two grommets — sixteen a side, closely set across a fifteen-and-a-half-inch back, so the pull distributes along the whole length rather than gathering at three or four points.

Below the waist, two shaped inserts carry the hip. This is the detail that decides whether a corset can be worn sitting down. Without them the lower edge stands away from the body or presses into it; with them it follows.

The waist tape is the part no one sees. It runs the full circumference of the waistline, laid in and closed over so that it sits between shell and lining — taking the strain off the seam allowances while remaining invisible from both faces, with nothing against the skin. The lining is 100% cotton twill at 220 GSM: breathable enough for daily wear, substantial enough to hold its shape.