My obsessions: The smallest waist

Zoomin English

Sarah is passionate about corsets, both the aesthetics and history behind it. She can wear one up to 20 hours per day and is determined to break a World Record.

Transcript

00:00I've had people tell me that I'm going to die soon, I've had people tell me that I'm

00:11a bad mother, I've had people tell me that I am perpetuating a toxic beauty standard.

00:30My name is Sarah Vaith, I live in Portland, Oregon, I'm a mom and an artist and a wife

00:39and I am also an extreme corset wearer, also known as a tight lacer.

00:49My goal is to match the Guinness World Record for the smallest corseted waist, which is

00:5515 inches in circumference, around the middle.

00:58So typically, I'll sleep in my corset, I do everything in it, I garden in it.

01:05When I first started wearing corsets, I was not thinking about my waist at all.

01:12I was noticing I was getting a little bit of a slouchy posture.

01:17I bought a corset that was like 24 inches at the waist, even just a little bit of cinching

01:24that created this hourglass figure that was just, oh wow, I could look like that.

01:32And I got really interested in the challenge of going as small as possible.

01:42Since I'm wearing it for waist training, I do have to think about how I eat and how I

01:47exercise and how I position myself to stay comfortable.

01:55This is a silk-finished zippered busk corset by Twilight Siren.

02:02I commissioned this piece custom as outerwear.

02:06I generally only wear this one for special occasions to go over a dress.

02:16I'm not going to wear it at this tightness for very long.

02:19I can breathe okay, but it makes me feel a little panicky, it's a lot of resistance,

02:24I feel a little hot.

02:27Ooh, I missed it down.

02:30As far as aging, the current record holder with a 15-inch waist is in her mid-80s and

02:36still living an active life, still enjoying her corsets.

02:40I don't anticipate that there will be a time that I'll ever stop wearing corsets.

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