Lady Annalai has recently created her own blog! You probably know Annalai from the Albert’s Avenue series on Staylace. And, you have seen Annalai featured here in the past, as well. I’m sure there will be lots of good information and interesting posts about corsetry on her blog, so check it out.

Species sent along a link to a very nice brace-inspired male corset that was up for auction on eBay. A few of the photos are below.

I love the look of this corset, though I’m not sure how effective it would be for tightlacing. But, it is a very masculine-looking corset that has some nice bells-and-whistles. It’d probably be a great foundational corset for a steampunk outfit. I’ve never worn a corset with shoulder straps, but have seen them a bit more frequently in recent years. I wonder if the straps are comfortable for longer-term wear. I’ve read in a few places that Annalai found the shoulder straps in her cream-colored corset problematic, but I can’t remember exactly why.

Has anyone ever worn a corset with shoulder straps? If so, what were the strengths and weaknesses?

A reader sends in the following question:

Do you know which type of corset also compresses the bust, instead of a corset which mainly compresses the waist only? I do like to train my body to have a hourglass figure, which I succeeded pretty far already, but I do believe my bust is a bit large looking in comparison.

There are some corsets that do a bit of rib training on the upper ribcage. These are generally a bit harder to wear, simply because the upper ribs are less flexible than the lower, floating ribs and the lower waist where ribs don’t get in the way. You can find great information on different shapes of corsets on the Wasp Creations site. Romantasy also has a page about different kinds of corset shapes.

Probably the best example that I’ve seen of rib training is by Annalai. In one of the editions detailing her training on Staylace, Albert describes the shape a bit:

The shape of the upper body of the corset is a smooth cone, lacking an indented wasp waist. As a consequence, when reducing the waist, the ribs must be bent in at the same time. Because the rib area is more resistant to compression than the waist area, Annalai is doing more rib training than waist training! Her ribs did hurt a bit, now and then, but not very often anymore. To complete the statistics: Annalai’s hip size is 93 cm (36 ½ inches).

I thought I would complete Annalai’s 3-day course this week, but didn’t quite do it. I had to do some things that required taking off the corset. But, I almost got there…Soon, I will be a little more dedicated and complete the course!

I’ve long been an admirer of Annalai and her terrific waist training over the years. Her photos are always a joy and I am fascinated by the types of corsets that she wears. The corsets look very stiff/rigid, create an unbelievable conical torso shape, and have no front fastening! Additionally, in some instances they are paired with shoulder straps, neck corsets, and more.

Photo Used with Permission of Annalai

Photo Used with Permission of Annalai

In one of the installments of Albert’s Avenue on the Staylace site, Annalai describes a three day waist training program in which the wearer does not remove the corset for the entire three day stretch. Here is a short excerpt from the description (scroll about 2/3 down on this page to see the full description).

Start with taking a shower and put on a clean liner, and remember: You are NOT going to remove your corset for the next three days! Put on the corset and lace it to a comfortable waist size that you usually have during daytime. After some hours, you pull the laces a bit tighter and you repeat that some hours later, and once more, when possible…And after three days? Well, you keep the corset comfortably tight at your new ‘daytime size’, and feel proud! And maybe you start another three-day training period soon!

You can learn more about Annalai and her tightlacing at Albert’s Avenue on Staylace. There’s also more about Annalai available at Retroxotique.

My longest continuous stretch of lacing to date has been 30 or so hours. I think going a full 72 hours without taking off the corset would be delightful, though I wonder about the feeling at the end of the 3 days when the corset comes off. Maybe I’ll try it sometime in the very near future. What’s the longest you’ve ever worn a corset? How was it?