When we look back to past ages, we tend to think of women tight laced into restrictive prisons of whalebone and steel – but was that really the case? How did corsets come about? Did women always tight lace? Did everyone always wear them? And what were they really for?

Join Assistant Curator of Costume and Textiles Dr Faye Prior for an intimate examination of the corset, from its beginnings in the stiffened bodices of the Tudor period, to the waist-length stays of the eighteenth century, and the explosion of different designs and ideas in the industrial age.

Learn how corsets first came about, why people wore them, and examine some real historical corsets from the collection of York Castle Museum. Part of York Fashion Week 2019.

This event costs £5 per person and museum admission applies. Click here to book your place.