In 1908, the A.B.C. tea shops once again figured in women’s issues of the Edwardian era. It was the custom of the day for women to wear corsets so tight that it gave the wearer waistlines of as little as 17 inches. This was referred to as “tight-lacing.” In an instance that gained certain publicity, a waitress at an A.B.C. tea shop died as a result of tight-lacing. Her death “through tight-lacing … brought the subject of tight-lacing under discussion.”
As a direct result, corsetières dubbed the era “decidedly the days of the woman with medium waist — that all model gowns have medium waists, and that whereas a few seasons ago corsets were made for 17in, 18in, and 19in waists, 23in is now the average measurement for young women.”
Thus, this single death of an A.B.C. tea shop waitress from tight-lacing resulted directly in the “letting out” of the waistlines of women’s gowns and their underlying corsets.
