A Proper Fit

The twenty-first century has seen the emergence of the corset as haute couture, red carpet finery. A Proper Fit tells only part of the story of the garment’s evolution and its importance to large groups of women in a New England city.

For Anne Marie Murphy, what began as curiosity about one female business owner from 1904, became an exploration of a huge industry in Worcester, Massachusetts: corset making. From the Civil War to the 1980s, the city was home to an astounding 126 corset-related businesses. Women were at the helm of half of them. The industry created a wealth of female self-employment opportunities long before American women had the right to vote. One woman, in particular, operated at the highest level—factory owner Mary Heintzelman Gifford Bowne. How did she learn the trade? How did she become a world famous corset designer? And, how did she fare as a female factory owner in the U.S. in that era?

A Proper Fit highlights Mary’s story as well as those of other women who supported themselves through long-term relationships with clients who came to them for this bespoke foundation garment. The city was filled with corset makers, at large factories and small shops where “corsetieres” made garments from scratch or as customized versions of mass-produced products. In addition to Mary, the manufacturing executive, we meet a downtown corsetiere with grocery store experience, the widow of a corset “cutter” who struck out on her own, and a factory forewoman who parlayed her experience into decades of downtown retailing. The Burnside and Slater Buildings on Main Street became hubs with fourteen corsetieres from wildly different backgrounds. Through the makers we learn about the garment itself—how it was made, worn, and sold to the American woman.

Anne Marie Murphy is the author of A Proper Fit, a history of the more than 120 corset-making businesses in the city of Worcester that focuses on that industry’s many women entrepreneurs. After moving to Worcester in 2017 she volunteered at the Museum of Worcester’s library where she discovered many local women whose stories needed to be told, such as those in this book. She has worked as a professional researcher for the film and television industry for almost forty years, mainly as founder/owner of Eastern Script Inc., after receiving a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree from the UCLA Film School. She created the popular coloring book Amazing Women of Worcester, a partnership with nine local female artists including her own talented daughter. An Amazing Women of Massachusetts book is now underway, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Women’s History Center.