Miscellaneous Definitions — accessories, trims, tools and general fashion terms from Apparel Search
A busk, also spelled busque, is the rigid element of a corset placed at the centre front. In stays, the corsets worn between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the busk was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright, and it was made of wood, ivory or bone slipped into a pocket and tied in place with a lace called the busk point. In the middle of the nineteenth century a new steel form appeared, in two pieces with loops and posts, which made corsets considerably easier to put on and take off.
A busk (also spelled busque) is the rigid element of a corset placed at the centre front.
In stays, the corsets worn between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the busk was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright. It was made of wood, ivory, or bone slipped into a pocket and tied in place with a lace called the busk point. These busks were often carved and decorated, or inscribed with messages, and were popular gifts from men to their sweethearts.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new form of busk appeared. It was made of two long pieces of steel, one with loops and the other with posts, that functioned in the same way as hook and eye fastenings on a garment. This made corsets considerably easier to put on and take off, as the laces did not have to be loosened as much as when the corset had to go over the wearer's head and shoulders. The second half of the nineteenth century also saw the invention of the spoon busk.
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The busk is the part of a corset that holds its front line. It is the rigid element placed at the centre front, and its job is structural: a corset shapes the body by lacing at the back, but without a stiff front piece the front would wrinkle, fold and twist under that tension. In stays, the corsets worn between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the busk was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright. It was a separate strip, made of wood, ivory or bone, slipped into a pocket at the front of the stays and tied in place with a lace called the busk point. Because it was removable, it could be taken out for washing the garment, replaced when worn, or exchanged, and because it sat against the body in a visible, personal garment, these busks were often carved and decorated, or inscribed with messages, and were popular gifts from men to their sweethearts.
Recognising an early busk is a matter of material and form: a single flat, rigid strip of wood, ivory or bone, long enough to run down the centre front of a pair of stays, sometimes bearing carving or an inscription. It works together with the boning of the corset, the ribs that give the garment its overall shape, but it is distinct from them. The bones shape the body around its circumference; the busk alone governs the front, keeping the centre line straight and upright against the pull of the lacing. A corset front that stays flat and vertical is a busk doing its work; the piece is small compared with the whole garment, yet the silhouette depends on it.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new form of busk appeared that changed how a corset was worn. It was made of two long pieces of steel, one with loops and the other with posts, that functioned in the same way as hook and eye fastenings on a garment. The wearer could open the front of the corset by unhooking loops from posts and close it again the same way. This made corsets considerably easier to put on and take off, as the laces did not have to be loosened as much as when the corset had to go over the wearer's head and shoulders. The back lacing could be set to the desired tightness and largely left alone, while daily dressing happened at the front busk, a change in convenience that helped define the modern corset.
The second half of the nineteenth century also saw the invention of the spoon busk, a specialised kind of busk that was, as its name implies, shaped like a spoon, with the bottom part widening and taking a dished form. It was invented in 1879 by Joseph Beckel of New York City. The spoon busk allowed a greater reduction in waist size without producing a bulge of flesh at the bottom edge of the corset, a problem experienced when corsets with straight busks of even width were tightly laced, as the flesh of the abdomen was squeezed out of place and appeared where there was no pressure. The wide, dished part of a spoon busk accommodated the abdomen, and at the same time compressed and controlled it, and corsets with spoon busks usually descended to a point lower than the level of the hips at the front. A widening, dished lower end is therefore the identifying sign of a spoon busk against the even width of a straight busk.
The busk is the rigid element at the centre front of a corset. In stays it was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright.
The spoon busk is a specialised busk shaped like a spoon, with the bottom part widening and taking a dished form. It accommodated, compressed and controlled the abdomen while allowing a greater reduction in waist size.
The mid-19th-century busk was made of two long pieces of steel, one with loops and the other with posts, like hook and eye fastenings. Corsets became easier to put on and take off because the laces did not have to be loosened as much.