For men, corsets are more customarily dependent to slim the figure. However, there was a period from around 1820 to 1835 when an hourglass figure (a small, nipped-in look to the waist) was also desirable for men; this was sometimes achieved by wearing a corset.
Corsets are held together by lacing, usually (though not always) at the back. Tightening or loosening the lacing produces corresponding changes in the firmness of the corset. Depending on the desired corollary and bout period, corsets can be laced from the crack down, from the base up, or both up from the radical and down from the top, using two laces that meet in the middle. It is difficult â although not impossible â for a back-laced corset-wearer to do his or her own lacing. In page the Victorian heyday of corsets, a well-to-do woman would be laced by her maid, and a gentleman by his valet.