A short history of corsetry, from whalebone to Lycra. - By Eleri Lynn - Slate Magazine

slate.com: "In the late Middle Ages, women wore tightly laced bodices stiffened with paste to control and smooth their figures. In the 16th century, however, as the great voyages of discovery across the Atlantic revealed teeming new whale fisheries and rich silks and velvets requiring firmer foundations were imported from Italy and Spain, whalebone became a popular and common material for shaping both body and clothing.