Figure Training Fundamentals Sadly Disappointing

The editor / compilatrix of this work is Ms. Antoinette. I have never read anything that she has written before. Indeed, before cracking open the book, I'd never heard of her before. She states in the preface to Figure Training Fundamentals, that she has is a long-time corseting and tight lacing practitioner, and that she has worked creating corsets both in the US and in the UK. Her inspiration for Figure Training Fundamentals, was found in a vintage publication for the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's called London Life Magazine.

Other than the preface to the book written by Ms. Antionette, the entire text consists of reprints of corseting articles and advice columns derived from a proto-fetish magazine called London Life Magazine. Much attention is given to the proper diet and exercise regimes for young women being introduced to corseting by their mothers.

As the articles were written 60-80 years ago, the writing style is old-fashioned and unlikely to appeal to the modern reader. Ditto the content: from a modern fetish corseting approach, most of the advice and information given is irrelevant and useless.

I can't imagine the audience to whom such a book would appeal. Maybe it would appeal to people into the history of corseting, or people who enjoy campy vintage advertisements and similar drawings. I suspect that Ms. Antionette was so inspired by her finds in the London Life Magazine archives, that she put this book together in order to share what she found with other enthusiasts; assuming others would be similarly inspired. Sadly this was not the case with me.

For some reason the entire book is typeset in a chunky boldface font. I have no idea why this was done, but it makes the paragraphs looked bloated and thick, and decreases readability. The book itself seems to have rather low standards. The perfect type binding was glued, not sewed, making it easy for pages to get torn out if read a lot. The paper is cheap and very high gloss. The illustrations consist of black and white cartoons from the 1930 and 1940's, fuzzy corset construction diagrams, and re-prints of old fashioned corset advertisements from newspapers. Overall, the entire book looks and feels amateurish.

I was really hoping that this book would be a helpful primer, or "how-to" on modern fetish corseting. A book that talked about the various drawbacks and merits of different types of corsets, how beginners might get started in fetish corseting, safety concerns, and so on, is what I wanted Figure Training Fundamentals to be. It's not. I've got no interest in corseting as a health and lifestyle improvement device, or how to wear one while performing morning calisthenics with my Indian clubs.