date unknown The Golden Gate: Break out the Fainting Couch, Corsets aren't just for Southern Belles anymore by Kim Hayden [Issue V] Most women have probably never even considered wearing a corset. Maybe they’re afraid they’ll suffocate or that they’ll injure their organs or draw too much attention and look freakish. They are all totally wrong, says Ann Grogan, corset expert, designer, consultant and fitter for her own custom corset business, Romantasy. “They’re magical garments,” she exclaims. Today, Ann’s waist measures 20 inches. Usually it’s 24 inches. She says a corseted waist goes back to its normal size 15 to 20 minutes after taking off the corset. She is 59, but could easily pass for 10 years younger. “Corsets keep you young,” she proclaims, laughing. She owns 55 custom corsets from 12 different makers, and wears them three to five days a week. “This is art to wear. I wear mine to show.” Men and women, large and small, come to Ann to get fitted for their custom corsets. “Large women look better in corsets,” Ann says, pointing out a voluptuous woman in one of her catalogs. “They’re stunning; they’ve got those curves.” Ann started Romantasy about 13 years ago and the first ever custom corsetry Web site. She designs corsets and measures people for them, then matches them with the appropriate maker. Ann guesses she has measured 3,000 people for corsets. She has been running Romantasy out of her home in Glen Park for the past three years, which she enjoys, since it gives her more personal time with her clients. “This product is an old-fashioned product,” she says. “I like selling it in an old-fashioned way.” That’s why you can expect a tea party and cookies when you come for your corset fitting. “Ann is an amazing person,” says client Lynn McDaniel, 48, who owns five corsets, and corsets-down to a 21-inch waist. “I consider her a great friend as well as a priceless business relationship. It’s not simply her business, it’s her passion.” Corsets were not always Ann’s passion. A little more than 13 years ago, Ann was a civil trials attorney for the state of California. She became frustrated with the bureaucracy, was satisfied with her accomplishments as a lawyer, and decided she needed a change. One day on her lunch break, she walked into a dingy porn shop and was struck with an epiphany: She should start a romantic boutique. “I wanted to stress romance,” she says. “Lift human sexuality out of the pit.” She changed her mind from sexy lingerie to corsets after attending a lecture by renowned corset maker Ruth Johnson. She tried on her first corset on stage at the lecture and loved the curves the corset gave her slender body, and the reactions from the men in the audience. Ann began having Ruth make corsets for Romantasy, and considers her the best of the corset makers. She currently represents six other corset makers, besides Ruth. “They are all different,” she says. “They don’t compete. Each has their specialty, which is nice because I can place customers with the most appropriate corset maker.” Ann’s corsets are custom made to fit her clients’ bodies. She carefully measures her clients to ensure a correct fit, and to get the right style. A quality corset should last 10 to 20 years, depending on how often it is worn. And it can take anywhere from two to eight months for it to be made. “This is an ancient garment,” she says. “We have to respect the tradition. We should not treat it as a throwaway kind of garment, like we’re accustomed to. Quality takes time.” At department stores, the corsets come in but a few sizes, and are not made to fit each woman’s body. Victoria’s Secret – or “Vickie’s Secret,” as Ann calls it – sells a corset for the same price as Ann, but the difference is hers is custom made. Corsets are not painful, as many people think. They give a sensation of being constantly hugged, which is actually pleasant. Though breathing is slightly hindered, Ann says that can be resolved by learning to breath more with your lungs than with your stomach. “It’s silly to think women would wear corsets if they were painful,” Ann chastises. And corsets don’t necessarily squish your internal organs into places where they shouldn’t be. Corsets only move the intestines a small bit, but it‘s unknown quite where they go in the body – up or down. Regardless, wearing a corset for a few hours to go to dinner, or all day to train your waist for a special occasion, is not going to permanently push your intestines up into you chest, or your kidneys down into your legs. Ann also teaches people the art of waist training – that is, permanently changing your waist size. She currently has 5 students who are learning the not-so-easy skill of cinching your waist down a few inches. She has had a man and woman who both trimmed their waists down 4 inches, and lost 17 and 10 pounds, respectively. It takes three months to permanently trim your waist, and it’s not easy, she says. Waist training consists of wearing a corset from two to 16 to 24 hours a day, six days a week, lacing it tighter and tighter, from 2 inches to even 5 inches. This forces you to change your breathing, posture and eating habits. You can’t drink champagne because the bubbles make you burp, which can be uncomfortable. You have to eat well-cooked, light foods that aren’t too oily. And you have to sit up and stand straight. Corsets are comfortable to wear throughout the day, once you get used to changing your breathing and eating habits. “I can cook, I can sweep, I can go for a walk or to the store,” she says. “I’m always conscious it’s on, but the goal is to make it less and less conscious.” Tight-lacers wear their corsets all day, every day, cinching 4 inches or more. Most tight-lacers are into it as a fetish where wearing a corset becomes their lifestyle. “It’s a physical challenge to be a tight-lacer,” Ann explains. “It’s not easy. You can’t really eat easily.” There are several types of corsets. A waist cincher is a shorter, more comfortable corset that is reversible and comes in eight different sizes. It helps you keep a good posture and keeps you from straining your back. Ann sells them for $225. “I never travel without my waist cincher,” Ann says. “I gave my mom one to garden with. She’s 85.” An under bust corset is longer than a waist cincher, dipping past the waist and going up to the bosom. Ann sells those for $295 and up. Over bust corsets cover the breasts and are sold for $350 and up. Additions, like rhinestones, lace or beading, can be added to corsets, making them more expensive. Both men and women come to Ann for corsets. Ann figures 60 percent of her clients are men, with half of them being cross-dressers. “Men are an easy sell,” she laughs. “They get that nice superman look, and they like it. If they can get over the notion that corsets are for gay men or a woman’s garment. If it were called a back brace, they’d come.” The men who are not cross-dressers like the fact that a corset can pull in their beer bellies and make them stand up straighter. Most of the non-cross-dressers, however, are into the fetish of the hugging feeling of a corset, and the challenge of tight-lacing. Women are sometimes a harder sell than men because they have been conditioned to hide their curves, Ann says. “What I find is many women suffer from poor body image,” Ann says. “We don’t like to dress up or stand out in a crowd. We’re not supposed to show our curves and god knows we’re not supposed to celebrate them.” “Why be boring and fit in?” Ann adds. “Corsets are not for those people. You're going to make people gasp when you wear a corset.” [X]