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heaving bosoms
November 15, 2012

Twenty-Five Period Dramas That Make Us Want to Wear Corsets

By Sally Holmes

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Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection

With the opening of the Anna Karenina and Keira Knightley’s grand return to period costume, we are reminded why women used to squeeze themselves into lethally restrictive undergarments. Sure, corsets are basically the antithesis to all things feminist and sensible, not to mention the whole rib-cracking, lung-restricting, fainting thing. But the buoyant butt-boobs! That romantic, brocade-draped silhouette, perfect for palace intrigue! From Gone With the Wind to Amadeus to Titantic, take a look at 25 period dramas with costumes so sumptuous and visuals so dazzling that we’d almost subject ourselves with corsets to live in their worlds. Almost.

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1 / 25 Photos
Doctor Zhivago  Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
Titanic  Photo: 20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Amadeus  Photo: Saul Zaentz Company/Everett Collection
The Duchess  Photo: Nick Wall/Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Gone With the Wind  Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
Marie Antoinette  Photo: Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Curse of the Golden Flower  Photo: Sony Pictures/Everett Collection
The Young Victoria  Photo: Everett Collection
Much Ado About Nothing  Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films/Courtesy Everett Collection
Dangerous Liaisons  Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection
Quills  Photo: 20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Vanity Fair  Photo: Focus Films/Everett Collection
Pirates of the Caribbean  Photo: Walt Disney Co./Everett Collection
Great Expectations  Photo: Everett Collection
Valmont  Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection
Elizabeth  Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection
Cold Mountain  Photo: Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection
The Libertine  Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection
The Mask of Zorro  Photo: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection
Barry Lyndon  Photo: Everett Collection
Wild Wild West  Photo: Warner Bros/Everett Collection
Shakespeare in Love  Photo: Miramax/Everett Collection
The Phantom of the Opera  Photo: Warner Bros/Everett Collection
The Age of Innocence  Photo: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection
The Piano  Photo: Miramax/Everett Collection
1 / 25

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  • heaving bosoms
  • butts
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  • keira knightley
  • anna karenina
  • corsets
  • titanic
  • kate winslet
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