1900s: CORSETS
At the turn of the 20th century, the Victorian era was drawing to a close – and so, too, thankfully, was the era of the corset. For centuries, women used corsets to crush their bodies into the then-ideal hourglass figure. It was common for little girls to squeeze into them and continue wearing them their entire lives, even through pregnancy. They were known to misalign the spine, deform ribs, and smoosh internal organs out of their natural position.