Sixteen panels, six shaped pieces to each side of the body: four across the front, two across the back. Each seam is another chance to take circumference out at the waist and release it cleanly over the rib and the hip, and another position for a bone.

Below the waist, two shaped inserts carry the hip at the back. This is the decision that separates Orchid from a straight-cut underbust. With the hip spring built into the back panels, the lower edge follows the body when you sit instead of standing away from it or pressing into the lap — while the front stays clean and uninterrupted through the busk line.

Fourteen spiral steels 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 hold the lacing edge straight against the pull of twenty-six grommets, thirteen a side.

The detail that matters most is the one you can't see from outside: every bone runs under its own cotton casing. A bone in a casing floats slightly and stays where it was put. A bone stitched straight into a seam allowance works against that seam and eventually distorts it. You notice the difference after a month of wear, not on the first day.

Front fourteen inches, back fourteen, side thirteen. The shorter side is deliberate — it lets Orchid compress hard at the waist without the side seam catching under the arm or riding on the hip when seated.

Inside, a 100% cotton lining. Unglamorous and decisive: the layer against the skin is the one that decides whether a training corset gets worn for six hours or taken off after forty minutes.