Kim Kardashian's corset, which she reportedly wears during workouts to obtain that hourglass figure, is the talk of Instagram this week, but some are wondering whether the reality star is actually a waist-training advocate or just promoting a friend's Miami business.
Kardashian, her sister Khloe, and model friend Blac Chyna have all posted recent Instagram photographs showing them "waist training," or wearing a corset while working out. All the women included a shout-out to Instagram user Premadonna and www.WhatsAWaist.com in their
photo captions, USA Today noted.
If not promoting a friend's brand, then why the sudden obsession with corsets?
"The products are easy to put on, relatively comfortable, affordable, and provide an instantly slimmer midsection," Ruben Soto, president of Hourglass Angel — a company that offers waist cinchers and waist trainers — told USA Today about the popularity of corsets today. "It's a quick and easy thing to do."
Soto said sale of his waist trainers has soared some 250 percent in the last year, particularly his "Amia" design, which promises a 1-4 inch waistline reduction.
Corsets, of course, have been around since a long time, and use in modern-day society is nothing new.
Model Kelly Lee Dekay told BuzzFeed News this week that "tight-lacing" corsets helped her reshape her body to get a 16-inch waist.
Dekay said she wears corsets more for the artistry and the feeling she get gets while wearing them.
"I'm coming from the perspective of a fetishist," she said. "When I tried on my first steel-boned corset at 18, I was smiling ear to ear. I fell in love with the brocade, the zipping sound the laces made as it got tighter and the overall beauty of a corset. I love the different silhouettes different types of corsets create. There's something very romantic about it."
Stephen Ball, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, told USA Today that corsets, waist trainers, and the like are bad solutions to reshape the body in the long run.
"Quick fixes are what Americans want, and, unfortunately, they typically are what I call quackery," Ball said. "You aren't going to lose body fat by cinching the waist; you're going to lose by exercise and watching what you eat."
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