The ehlers danlos syndrome person to historical costumer pipeline is or will be a thing and I shall explain why.
At some point one discovers that some sort of supportive structure around your torso feels incredibly comfortable and gives your tired muscles a rest. What’s the coolest and most non obtrusive torso bracing garment? A corset. Believe me when I say that when your torso has the structural integrity of a wet sack of jello, a tightly laced corset makes you feel like a god.
And because historical corsets tend to be more comfortable and are usually made with regular wear in mind, they are the natural choice.
Then you have the shoes. What shoes is someone with unstable ankles supposed to wear, you ask?Lace up boots, for stability. And due to their middle of the heel heel placement, historical lace up boots tend to be way more comfortable than the modern variety.Even the non healed ones, really. Couple that with the fact that Edwardian and Victorian boots are really really pretty…
And after the boots and the corset, it’s a very slippery slope.
Pretty soon you’ll be wondering how to hide your corset under your clothes for when an outer corset is not the vibe, and you’ll be buying yourself a corset cover. Or making one yourself. They’re a great starter project. But that looks weird with a fitted top so cool flowy blouse it is.
Then you realize wearing this with a skirt makes you feel intensely powerful but you don’t want to keep tripping over it so you add petticoats.
And then you realize your neck isn’t so great at holding up your head so you really need to find a hairstyle where your hair sits on top of your head instead of to the sides or to the back so that it’s balanced and you don’t get a neck ache. A high bun it is. Not too tightly, because your scalp is sensitive, but a high bun still works if you bobby-pin it in place.
And then one day, you look in the mirror and you’re dressed like Anne of Green Gables.
And you’ve never looked cooler.
#ok the good news is#there are a lot of disabled people in the historical costuming community#and someone has probably thought of solutions for both of these problems#i mean I have lace up boots that zip up. idk if that would work#but I also have button boots and a button hook to help#idk if other of those would work but my point is there are other options besides lace up boots#as for corsets#i know a lot of people reach a point where they can’t manage regular corset laces#and they usually opt for something called fan lacing#there are videos of people trying it on YouTube and such#you could always look into that#but if something front lacing would work better than back lacing#I’d look into historical stats#stays#18th century or renaissance#of course; then you usually have to lace the whole thing every time#but if your strings are long enough#you just keep it very loosely lace and slide it over your head. b#but idk if you’d be able to tighten it.#dammit I shall look into this. my mom is an OT. she’ll know things
#alright buckle up#my occupational therapist mom who specializing in hands recommends lace up boots#lace up boots with a zipper#she says people who have trouble with zippers will use some sort of hook with a bigger#handle that’s easier to grip#the corset stuff is more difficult#she does recommend the fan lacing#she says she has a whole catalogue of stuff to help people be able to dress by themselves#and what quadriplegics often do is they have a hook on the wall#yes I know you’re not quadriplegic#but if you were pulling against something#so you corset fan lacing on the wall hooked and walked away from it#itd probably be way less effort than actually pulling it yourself#i have fatigue issues too and that does seem unnecessarily complicated#but her point is there are things you can get for anything#especially motor skills#a lot of people have bad motor skill#we have a classy knife shaped like an L in our drawer where you crip the vertical part and the blade is the horizontal part#way easier for people with arthritis and not great fine motor skills#now I’m just rambling#you did not ask for this and I apologize but I got interested#but definitely look into fan lacing if you are curious about corsets#i am genuinely much less tired at the end of the day if I go out in a corset#you just have to be careful to actually work out those muscles and not let them dissolve into nothing from lack of use lol
okay i'm putting this in post so i can actually find it again i probably will have to look into some of this then, just i should save it until after i get physio sorted. thank you and no need to apologise
As another person with hypermobility and a former danseur, don't fasten your buns with bobby pins. They're shit at that. Use French pins. Not the plastic or shaped metal ones, the ones made of thin wire in the shape of a rounded V. They won't pinch your hair like bobby pins will. You can also buy bun nets, either decorative ones or the fine ones for ballet that are coloured such as to blend in with your hair, which make keeping your hair in place much easier. I used to just use four pins at cardinal points once I had a bun net on, and that worked even when my hair was waist length, but I have fairly fine curly hair which doesn't attempt to slip free. If you have long, thick hair, you might find you need more. I was taught to insert the pins into the base of the bun net away from the bun, then rotate them down to more or less flat on the scalp and push them through the bun.
