RetroXotique

By "Mike"

Joseph arrived home in the late afternoon and had been eager to check that her toilette was progressing without any hitches. He also had a surprise for Beatrice a matching Whitby jet & diamond necklace and bracelet and Beatrice had been overwhelmed by his generosity. Knowing that she could not manage an extended time at 22", Beatrice had left it as long as she dare before lacing down to the last inch, when she had managed and tied off the laces Beatrice had stood panting quietly, her now even larger bust rising and falling with each breath while Anne helped her put on her boots and Beatrice winced slightly as she put her weight back down on to her compressed toes.

Beatrice had instructed Anne to leave off the knee hobble, but Joseph who was watching her dress insisted that she wear it and the ankle chain as he said he wanted to be sure absolutely nothing could go wrong. When they were fitted Joseph had stepped forward and bringing a pair of pincers out of his jacket he had trimmed back the excess leather on the knee hobble straps and the extra links of chain, explaining that he wanted nothing hanging down that might make Beatrice trip. Beatrice had felt slightly miffed at this, as she had already considered letting the hobble and the chain out if she was going to wear them again. Next had come the chamois leather petticoat, the two light petticoats and then the gown, the whole ensemble was finished off with long off white evening gloves, a matching off white fan, the necklace and bracelet and an evening cape.

Beatrice moved in the bath and brought her mind back to the present, she shifted her arms a little on the bath side to relieve the pressure of the weight of body. This was because after 25 years of continious night and day tight lacing she could no longer support herself without a corset as her stomach and back muscles had wasted away. Her waist even without corsets had taken on a deep indentation from the continous lacing, the skin was a pallid white with hard callus’s at hip bones and lower ribs wher the long corsets had rubbed . She had tried wearing rubber corsets in the bath to give her back some support, but missed the feeling of the water on her body and had reverted to supporting herself on her arms. Beatrice then lifted her feet out of the water one after the other and examined the effects years of too tight shoes, sharply pointed toes and spindly high heels, her big and little toes were tucked under the other taking on an unnatural point of their own, she had a large throbbing bunion on her left foot and both feet had taken on a the curved instep shape of her highest heeled boots.

Beatrice lay back again and resumed her reverie, she remembered being so very pleased and also a little embarrassed with the amount of praise that Joseph gave her as she stood before the mirror. They had slowly left the bedroom, Beatrice concentrating on making the quick small steady steps she had practiced so as not to be tripped by the restraining skirt and the other encumbrances. The progress was slow out on to the landing with the back of the skirt and the train oscillating in time with the rapid movement of her hips. At the head of the stairs she had realised with some trepidation that although she had practiced hard making the tiny steps in her bedroom, she had not tried to walk down stairs.

Holding Josephs arm tightly she had approached the stairs in the normal manner and putting one foot out she found the knee hobble and the ankle chain brought her up short, long before she could reach down to the next step. She brought her outstretched foot back and moved her other foot forward until it was on the edge of the step. She then again tried to step straight down and again her foot was brought up well short before it could reach the next step. Joseph had waited patiently understanding supporting her arm. After many attempts Beatrice had found that going down the stairs was similar to the walk accept that she had to bend her knee at the same time that she was extending her ankle. The first few steps came in bit of rush until at last she got her legs out of time and stumbled. Joseph was ready and had quickly grabbed he waist to steady her. Beatrice had continued down the stairs holding tightly onto Joseph with one hand and the banister with the other. When they had reached the bottom, Beatrice had had to rest for a minute to get her breath back.

Joseph had been very attentive all the way to the ball, even sending Anne back for several cushions to put between Beatrice’s back and the coach seat as the tight corset would not bend enough to let her to sit comfortably. She had been driven to the Alderman’s Ball not so much sitting in the carriage as lying in a straight line.

At the ball everybody had been most complementary of her appearance and throughout the night many of Josephs friends and associates and their wives had admired her gown. Beatrice had even risked a slow waltz, her legs had not been slow though, she had had to move them in countless tiny steps to achieve the dance motion, occasionally stumbling but supported by Josephs firm grasp at her waist. When she had glanced down she had been astounded to see the skirt moving smoothly below, completely disguising the torrent of movement taking place beneath its thick folds. All in all Beatrice was very pleased with her accomplishments for her first ball.

After three hours at the ball the pressure of the stays was getting very painful and her boots were pinching dreadfully, she was struggling to manage a smile as she made small talk to the various ball goers. She had known that she would soon have to ask Joseph to take her home, but all in all up until then she had been pleased with the way the ball had gone. After a visit to the restroom she had made her way back towards Joseph and then overheard a familiar voice, Agnes Farnworth

"Yes I suppose she has made an effort and I must say her waist has now gone down from that of a washerwoman to perhaps that of a serving maid, but I am afraid it is still quite clumsy".

At the time Beatrice had been incensed, how could Agnes say such a thing, it was obvious that her waist was as small or as nearly as small as most of the younger women in the room, although she had to admit a few women including Agnes had astonishingly small waists and Beatrice had wondered how they could breath at all with the narrow stems that joined the rounded hips and projecting bosoms. On hearing the comment Beatrice had gone immediately to Joseph and asked to be taken home. Joseph had seen her distress and called for the carriage. On the way home she had started to sniffle and then tried to cry, although she had found that true crying in a tight corset was not possible, and she nearly fainted. In between her stifled sobs and rapidly moving fan trying to get some air into her rasping lungs, in response to Josephs questions, she had blamed her tears on her the excitement of the night, her tiredness but for some reason not the painful crushing compression of the corset and certainly not on his sisters hurtful comments.

The next day Beatrice had decided that she would not give in to Agnes Farnsworth, and she had laced her day corset down to its minimum of 22", which then felt only mildly uncomfortable compared to the evening corset of the night before. She was still very short of breath and could not sit easily but she was determined to continue the reduction of her waist. She planned out a rigid diet and ordered more corsets from her corsetiere with more boning at the waist and a size of only 20", she consulted with her corsetiere and at her suggestion had a lacing bar installed in her bedroom so that she could hang and stretch herself whilst being laced. Joseph was very supportive of her efforts and with continual night and day corset wear nine months later she could just about manage to wear an evening corset for upcoming Guild Hall ball at a stunning 18".

She meticulously prepared her costume for the ball, not just content with the 18" waist, she would wear a gown with an even tighter and even more tied back skirt than her first ball gown with lacing at the bodice to emphasise her now tiny waist. Joseph had loved the idea but had also been very insistent that she still wear the knee hobble, ankle chain and chamois leather underskirt, so that she would look her best and not allow her boots under the skirt and knees show against the skirt.

Beatrice had complied with his wishes and had Mrs Baxton tighten the straps on the knee hobble, take links out of the ankle chain and reduce the circumference of the underskirt. She had ordered boots even smaller than her last pair with what she had then considered an enormous 3" heel to make her feet look even smaller. Her long gloves were made tighter at the hand and the sleeve and took an age to get on. On the day of the ball she asked the hairdresser to create a higher hairstyle to make look taller and as such slimmer.

Just before they had left for the ball, Beatrice critically examined her reflection in the mirror and had decided that there was now nothing that Agnes Farnworth could be critical about.

The ball was a great success, with one and all admiring her costume and she was even congratulated on her appearance, albeit a little grudgingly by Agnes Farnworth herself. Joseph had spent the whole evening, gushing with admiring comments on Beatrice’s outfit to all and sundry.

If the truth were known Beatrice was no more comfortable for the Guild Hall Ball than she had been at the Alderman’s Ball, she had left the lacing of the last inch until the last hour, the corset was if anything more uncomfortable as it was fully boned at the waist to achieve it’s handspan dimensions, the shoes were forced on as late as possible and she had suffered agonies from both throughout the evening.

After the ball Beatrice had felt liked she had achieved her aim, of equalling Agnes Farnworth and being a credit to Joseph, and was going to let out her corsets and skirts a little and start being more comfortable again. But Joseph was determined to display his beautiful and now ultra fashionable wife to everybody and arranged a constant round of dinners, concerts, dances, garden parties and charity galas at which Joseph wanted her to look her best for every event. So day after day she laced down to the crushing 18", and forced her feet into the tiny boots, and minced her way from party to party, keeping a smile on her face, but she had always been glad when she could go home and relax in bedroom sans corset.

She remembered that at the time that she had been slightly bemused by Joseph’s unflagging interest in her clothes All through that period he had accompanied on every visit to her dressmakers to decide on each new ensemble, and had encouraged her to order more and more extravagant and tighter outfits. She had seemed to spend her days in an endless round of fittings, of dresses, corsets, boots, gloves and hats, before starting to dress again to go out to the next function.