“The corset, a symbol of repression for those who are forced to wear it. But for me, who chooses to wear it, the bust enhancer and the hip regulators. And as they do so, they will make me look like that truly unlikely thing: A lady!” 

-Enola Holmes

Picture this, you are a time traveller from 2017, you’ve read CNN’s piece on the lavish Nigerian weddings, and it is on your bucket list. In your timeline, you’ve witnessed several high-profile weddings, including A-listers like Agbani Darego and Stephanie Coker. But upon arriving in 2025,  you notice that all the asoebi girls are looking glamorous with waists smaller than their hips. A sigh escapes your lips as you look at your Ankara look; there’s not much difference between your waistline and your hips. You missed the unspoken dress code, now you mourn the absence of the peplum and wonder when this tiny waist trend began.

That’s the corset, a trend that snuck into the Nigerian wedding scene like a thief in the night and has proliferated the Nigerian fashion space.

Recently, a trendy video saw actress, Nkechi Blessing, uncomfortably sitting in her car, perched at the edge of the seat, with her head on the headrest. She is struggling, and her problem stems from the outfit she has on, a beaded corset. The corset pushes her breasts to her jaw, and in her discomfort, she laments comically, “How I wan take siddon for that party?”. The video, although hugely comical, draws attention to the lesser-known angle of the compromise required to look snatched, a word used to describe the cinched waist look.

Cut to the AMVCA, and we have the red carpet rivalling a high-fashion bridal show. As BellaNaija described it, “Trains sweeping the floor, corseted gowns that don’t just hold shape but demand space, sequins that catch more than light—they catch breath.”
Corsetification extends beyond the reaches of women and red carpet events. Comically, men are not exempt from the pressure of modern trends.

It is a well-known maxim that beauty is pain, but it is fascinating that a 16th-century European undergarment became the blueprint for 21st-century Nigerian wedding style. So, how did we get here?

HISTORY OF THE CORSET:

The earliest discovery of a corset-like garment dates back to 1600 BCE, amongst the Minoan people. However, the idea of a corset we know today began gaining popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries.  According to the Hagen History Centre,  “Corsets were worn as both under and outer garments, to flatten the stomach and emphasise the fullness of the skirts and chest, idealising the image of a smaller waistline.”

The 19th-century Victorian era was an important time for the corset. During this time, the word “corset” was first used. The desire for a small waist and fuller bust had reached fever pitch. Victorian corsets could have as many as 60-100 whalebones sewn into them. It was a vital undergarment that shaped the female silhouette into the very popular smaller waist and a fuller bust aesthetic of the era.

With the advent of both world wars, the use of the corset declined due to material scarcity and was slowly replaced by other forms of shape wear (brassiere and girdles).  Although the corset was gradually replaced in the 20th century, it remained in use in bridal fashions and costume wear into the 21st century. As stated by Britannica, “Corsets and corset-style tops without structural supports retained an amount of popularity as outerwear, especially in alternative fashion, and were sometimes featured in the works of respected fashion designers.” An example is the viral Mazelle 2023 collection, Marie In The City, which saw Marie Antoinette reimagined as a Lagosian and featured an arsenal of corsets.

Marie in the city backstage moments at GTCO Fashion Week

THE CORSET MEETS THE NIGERIAN BRIDAL SCENE:

The corset has a long and complex global history. At some point, it was the favoured outfit of Italian prostitutes. But its entrance and evolution in the Nigerian fashion scene is a more recent story, tied to shifting ideals of beauty, globalisation, social media influence, and wedding culture. Before European influence, body shaping in Nigeria was more about wrapping and tying, methods more fluid than the rigid structure of Western corsets. 

Tracing the rise of the modern “corsetification” of Nigerian fashion can be tricky. While we can’t exactly say when it creeped in, around the early 2020s, designers like Veekee James, Xtra Brides Lagos, and Tubo began integrating visible corsetry into bridal and occasion wear. The focus shifted from under-the-clothes waist snatching to externalised boning, structure, and bust support as part of the outfit’s appearance.

Celebrity Award shows saw the mermaid silhouette, combined with a dramatic corseted waist and exaggerated hips, as the new standard for celebratory elegance.

Society often looks to celebrities for the next trend in fashion, and so the corset trend trickled down to local Nigerian tailors, who incorporated the boning into local fabrics, lace, Ankara, brocade, and everything could be as snatched and sparkly as you desired. As bridal wear evolved, asoebi culture (wedding guest culture) followed suit. 

A subtle message that the need for party food is being replaced by the desire for a snatched look. After all, who needs food when your outfit is eating?

A (Not-So-Distant) Past: Before Corsets Took Over

Earlier this year, artiste Fimi went viral for returning the trend of wearing iro and buba to young adult party scenes.

What did we wear before the corsets?

If you thought about it briefly and came up blank, it’s okay to self-diagnose with early-onset amnesia. However, you’re most definitely not alone. Misery loves company, and I’ll admit it took some in-depth soul searching, asking memory erudites what they remember, and the glorious internet to refresh my memory.

Before the great corsetification, to be a wedding guest meant iro and buba, Oleku, two-piece george and velvet (akwa oche) wrappers with stylish lace or sequinned blouses. It meant skirts and blouses, flowing 6-piece gowns with extravagant additions made from whatever asoebi material the couple had chosen. 

It meant peplum blouses and styles for concealing the stomach area, allowing you to eat as much as you wanted and not bother about your waist circumference. All fitted to the wearers with zippers at the back, not a drawstringed eyelet or cinched waist in sight. 

Back then, the only thing being cinched at the wedding party was auntie’s bag of souvenirs, and it was very much like today’s wedding scene, a fashionable time.

WHAT NIGERIAN WOMEN SAID:

Over the past two years, Corsets have become the unofficial silhouette for Nigerian weddings, red carpets, high-profile celebrations, and just about any event with a hashtag—AMVCAs included. It’s almost as if there’s a rule that you haven’t really shown up unless your waist is 10 inches smaller than it actually is. 

But why is that? Why are African women obsessed with achieving the hourglass shape, the stereotype of an African woman?

Kamsi, 25, a bride-to-be, believes that the African woman stereotype of a defined waistline and wider hips to look attractive and classy is to be blamed. “I want my waist smaller than my behind, and the corset helps achieve that. It’s not comfortable, but it gets heads to turn, leaving people to decide if your waist is actually that slim or you’re not breathing properly,” she admits. Her marriage is set for June, and yes, she would be going with the corset trend for her traditional wedding. When asked why, she replies, “It’s trendy and again, it gets heads to turn.”

Barbara, 23, says her obsession has to do with popularity and the silhouette it provides, the illusion of the hourglass shape. For her, it’s always style over comfort. “Beauty is pain, and I believe in it to the death. A very good-looking corseted outfit from Veekee James or Tuboreni looks perfect, the illusion of a perfect figure 8.”  She cites Veekee James as a more recent example, “Veeke James didn’t do BBL, but when she puts on a corseted outfit, she looks snatched with an amazing figure. Nobody really needs to know the other things used on the outfit.”

Precious, 24,  a fashion designer and CEO of upcoming fashion house Pieces2perfection, echoes a similar thought, “It accentuates the waistline and gives a better fit generally. Even if you are plump, the snatched waist gives a bit of confidence.” She highlights that the obsession with having a smaller waist can be traced far beyond when we knew of Instagram or what a BBL was, “Nobody teaches you that once you buy a cloth, you reduce the waist, it’s almost instinctual.” She cites the typical childhood experience as an example, “When we were younger,  if you got a dress or a skirt, the first thing you did was grab the sides or the waist from behind to see your ‘shape’. As an adult and a tailor myself, I’ve seen this a lot. Once you buy a dress, you almost always want to take the waist in to give the illusion of a smaller waist. We can’t say it’s BBL culture, because even hourglass-figured girls wear corsets.”

Even our modest skirt and blouse have gotten caught up in the corset craze.  Coco, 24, recently attended an event in a stunning skirt and blouse corset. She opted to cinch the attire and explained, “It snatches you to perfection, there’s no other reason for me. Corsets are hot.”

By hot, she means appealing. Before the corsets, people were hot, but in a different way. Coco thinks people looked good and, in a way, modest. “The styles were simpler, and nobody cared about being snatched.” She places a lot of emphasis on this, “Now the point of being snatched is to make sure that curves you have or don’t have show. Everybody becomes curvy with a corset, and that’s why I think people love it.” 

So, would anyone wear them if they weren’t the trend now? Esther, 24, says she occasionally wears them just to go with the tides of fashion and the sexy look they give. If left alone, she would rather have the freedom a bubu provides.

While many women lean towards the corset for the control it offers over their body image, others shy away from its restrictiveness and have chosen comfort over fashion. 

This is the case for Favour*, 25, “When I wore my first corset dress, I hated myself truthfully. It was too restrictive. I prefer the regular bodice to the corset.” 

The inclusion of the corset bodice into African fashion is trendy. But is it sustainable? Hardly. If fashion history is anything to go by, the trend is fated to eventually fade, similar to its 2010s counterpart, the BBL leggings fashion. 

Nevertheless, society’s fixation on flat tummies isn’t going anywhere. Precious alludes to an alternative trend coming up closely behind the full corset culture, a faux one, “These days, people are moving away from the traditional cup corset back to the princess pattern. The regular bodice we all knew before the cup corset, choosing to incorporate some form of it. Fashion designers fix boning into regular blouses, mostly at the front and sides of the bodice, with the main aim being to snatch the waist.” 

This new bodice uses a zipper instead of eyelets and drawstrings.

Our obsession with tiny waists may not be coming to an end, but ladies are already seeking more comfortable options. Moving from the all-restrictive full corsets to the half corsets, somewhat like the distinction between the 19th-century formal corset and the less restrictive half boned stays.  It’s now not a matter of if the great corsetification will pass over, but when, and an anticipation of the next European trend to terrorise our fashion scene.