Lately, many more men than in the past have been ordering ROMANTASY corsets to fit their natural waist, but achieve better posture or fit of business suits or formal wear, or to provide back support or address medical conditions.

Indeed, our new Corvest pictured above, is an example of a "manly man's" corset whose time has come. The corset looks like a formal vest on the outside, yet is boned and zippered inside, and laces in back to comfortably reduce the waistline by three inches.

Our first Corvest customer, Larry, ordered it to help him fit into a fifteen year old tux, and to share something of his wife Robby's excitement, as she took over the Southern California territory for sales of ROMANTASY's corsets. Robby came up with the idea and design for this interesting garment. Perhaps you saw our customers featured on ABC television national news at the end of March, 1998, dining and dancing together "a la corset" at the Starlight Room top of the Sir Frances Drake Hotel in San Francisco.

In the first week since debuting the corset disguised as a vest, three orders were placed, and regular orders and inquiries followed. We are finding that men in their twenties and thirties enjoy the unique style of the Corvest and are ordering them for clubwear. Recently, an opera singer who had lost 50 pounds and wished greater back support and stomach control while he performed, and a 50-ish physician with impending "love-handles" ordered the garment.

We make a simple satin version without the brocade front for true foundational wear, and we now produce a leather front Corvest in black cowhide for more adventurous cowboys and members of the leather community!

We believe the most comfortable style for a first-time wearer to be the underchest Victorian. It is also the most easily disguised corset when wearing under male clothing, in case you cannot reveal your corset interests at work or at home. Inner boning creates a thinner, lighter weight corset for travel or work, and for disguise, although this construction (compared to extra boning or outer double boning) may not provide maximum waist reduction if a feminine shape is desired.

Which corset maker you choose requires some individual consultation with our trained staff, and we will place your order with the corset maker best suited to your needs.

Unfortunately some men make poor choices and waste money on off-the-peg corsets in silk or nylon fabric that look glamorous and seem to be a good choice, if only to avoid having to openly admit one's desires to the saleslady. However, once home, if the urge to restrict carries the newcomer, away with enthusiasm, he can pull too tightly for the type of construction (plastic boning, irregular stitching, lack of lining or flimsy fabric) or wear the ready-made corset for too long a time, and by either method stretch fabric beyond its endurance to shreds.

You should feel free to discuss your desired corseting goals and other choices openly with our staff when you come for a measuring and fitting appointment. This is extremely important, as you will see from the following situation..

Male trousers will generally fit without alteration over a female-waisted or male-waisted corset. However, once you begin to tight-lace (take your waist down 4 or more inches), trousers will begin to slip downward.

In addition, a corset having a rather thick edging (such as BR corsets using velvet) or outside boning casings, may show underneath a man's shirt.

If you are concerned about this, simply ask for a corset with bones placed between the lining and the outer fabric and request a light weight fabric. Or if only outer boning casings are available, opt for a corset without lining.

Remember that you can always wear two undershirts over your corset, or indulge in a pair or two of pantyhose pulled up over the bottom of the corset to disguise the bottom edge. One clever customer even suggested that he might make foam pads to simulate his old tummy so his business colleagues wouldn't notice his substantial waist reduction! We'll let you know if that contraption ever gets to market ...

You can generally have the same expectations as women who corset, that is, about four inches in six months. However, you should provide us with two additional measurements to insure a comfortable fit no matter the style of corset you choose, or whether or not it is a male or female-style corset.

First, measure vertically from above your hip bone to underneath your lowest rib. Generally men have lesser distance than do women. Standard is 3" for men and 3-4" for women. The narrower that space, the longer it will take to reduce your waist. Second, measure across the widest part of your rib cage, usually several inches below your underchest line. This may be a wider measurement than immediately under the chest, but perhaps not.

One of our customers who sought maximum waist reduction, first purchased our fine leather, roller-buckle waist training belt at 2" wide. He wore it every night to bed for nine months. When he returned to ROMANTASY for his first corset measurement, he had actually permanently sculpted his waist down some nine inches!  If Ann had not personally measured at both ends of that period, she would not have believed his remarkable progress!

No matter your corsetry needs or desires, from formal to foundational, cincher to full Victorian, fancy to functional, we are happy to assist you.