Waist training is one of those contentious issues which always get people talking. Some people adore a tiny waist, some people abhor them and others are simply fascinated by this kind of body modification.

Either way it’s a theme very much relevant to most vintage enthusiasts. The most popular post on We Heart Vintage for the last year is about 1950s models and how they used waist training to get their extreme hourglass figures so I thought you would be interested to hear from a modern girl who does the same. And before you dismiss this as a niche or fetish thing don’t forget that 50s supermodel Dovima had a 19″ waist (as did Brigitte Bardot at one point), so it’s not too different!

Whichever camp you fall into you have to admire the commitment and confidence of people who alter their bodies to such an extent. I’ve been talking with Michele Köbke, who at aged 24, has shrunk her waist from her natural 25″ to an astonishing 16″ waist after just 3 years of wearing corsets.

I took the opportunity of asking her some questions I’d been wondering about the whole waist training process*:

What inspired you to start reducing your waist size?

I find both the corseted figure and the corset itself simply divine. I love the way the corset hugs me and I’m also a corset fetishist!

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