How Kim Kardashian's breathtaking silver corset proves the dangerous centuries-old obsession with a tiny waist isn't going anywhere

Kim Kardashian’s waist, or lack thereof, is unquestionably the talk of this year’s Met Gala. 

Thanks to an extremely tight, silver Maison Margiela corset, the reality star flaunted her almost impossibly tiny waist and enviable figure at the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kim, 43, is no stranger to reality-defying looks.

Ahead of the 2022 Met Gala, the mother-of-four and ex of Kanye West drew massive flak for an ‘irresponsible’ crash diet that saw her lose slightly over 1st in three weeks to fit into an eye-catching dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe.

But her latest outfit took things to another level.

Shocked fans and critics alike took to social media to question where her waist was in the outfit with some even wondering if the star had had her ribs removed.  

Kim has previously promoted weight training binders that medics have warned are dangerous. Hazards of such devices include breathing difficulties, constipation, and even organ damage caused by the body being contorted into unnatural shapes.

But she is far from the only woman to go to extreme lengths to achieve that mythical golden ratio that science claims drives men wild — a tiny waist and wide hips.

In fact, she is part of a centuries-old obsession of women intentionally altering their bodies in pursuit of that much pined for hourglass figure. 

Rib removal, rubber knickers and even purposely eating parasites are just some of bizarre methods used in pursuit of a thin waist throughout history.   

Corsets, an example of which Kim wore as part of her Met Gala look, can trace their popular history back to the Victorians. 

The devices, made of cotton, used baleen – a hard hair-like substance found in the mouths of some whales, or metal to tightly bind the waist into a more eye-pleasing shape in the 1800s.

Cases where the waist was constricted by as much as 17 inches weren’t unheard of. 

Even back then, dangers of wearing such devices too tightly, dubbed ‘tight-lacing’, or for too long, were documented.

For example, The Royal College of Surgeons of England has within its specimen archives an eyewatering specimen of a women’s ribcage having become deformed from wearing a corset.  

While such devices largely fell out of fashion in the post-Victorian era, they’ve enjoyed a resurgence over the past few decades, much to the concern of medics.

Rebranded as ‘waist-trainers’ sold online for as little as £7, the devices, which have been promoted by celebrities including Kim herself, work on the same mechanism as corsets, physically constricting the waist to make it look smaller, accentuating an hourglass figure. 

Despite the modern makeover and different materials, many of the same dangers remain. 

They can cause breathing difficulties by pushing the stomach into the diaphragm, a muscle below the lungs critical to respiration. This can, doctors warn, potentially restrict the flow of oxygen.

Kim once revealed she had to undertake corset breathing lessons to fit into a figure-hugging dress by Thierry Muglern in 2019, which took eight months to complete and was made to look as though she was dripping diamonds.

As well as breathing issues, corsets/waist trainers can also cause digestive woes, such as acid reflux. This is caused by the stomach being pushed up and constipation as the intestines are restricted from their natural movements.

Using such devices —nowadays typically made of synthetic fabrics and steel — can also cause the kidneys to shift to unnatural positions in the body, potentially cutting off the internal blood supply to the organs.

Historical cases of liver and rib damage have even been reported from corset use.

Restriction of movement while wearing a corset can cause back muscles to weaken, potentially causing back pain and weakness further down the line. 

Corsets and waist-trainers, which are typically worn for a short period of time, aren’t the most extreme examples of the lengths some women will go to for a tiny waist.

Some even opt to have entire ribs removed to get that hourglass figure, in a procedure dubbed ‘waist narrowing’ or ‘ant waist’ surgery. 

Techniques vary, but typically involve removing the 11th and 12th ribs. These are also known as the ‘floating ribs’ and are those located towards the bottom on the ribcage, and which provide support to the shape of the waist.

Some surgeons also remove parts of the 10th rib at the same time to accentuate the effect.  

Removing the bones causes the waist to collapse inwards, creating that curvaceous figure.

Unsurprisingly, this isn’t without consequences – those bones are there for a reason.

These ribs help protect vital organs in the abdomen, like the stomach, gall bladder and kidneys, from blunt force trauma. So, anyone missing them are at increased risk of serious injury.

Additionally, the op itself — which typically takes two to three hours — carries numerous risks including nerve damage, infection and scarring.

MailOnline couldn’t find any surgeons in the UK offering rib removal for cosmetic reasons, though overseas clinics in the likes of Turkey and the US do. However, they don’t list their prices without a consultation, stating it varies ‘per patient’.  

Other cosmetic surgeries also offer a slimmer waist but are less permanent.

Liposuction, or lipo, removes fat from the unwanted areas such as the waist and can be combined with a tummy tuck to slim a waist down.

These can be combined with other procedures, such as a Brazilian Butt Lift and boob job to create an artificial hourglass figure. 

However, compared to rib removal, this is a less permanent option because patients can simply put weight on again, necessitating further cosmetic procedures for the same result.

Cosmetic surgery is not without risk and dozens of Brits have been maimed or killed in overseas cosmetic clinics where standards and safeguards can be lax. 

Rubber knickers were another technique women used to use to achieve a slimmer waist from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The supposed logic was, much like a corset, the material would ‘push’ fat into the body, accentuating curves.

Airtight rubber clothing also caused people to sweat more, and the hope was this would also trigger weight loss. 

But instead, it frequently led to skin infections as flesh became damaged by the long exposure to moisture.  

The trend for such items didn’t last, with the advent of World War I leading to rubber supplies being put to other purposes like tyres for military vehicles. 

Corsets and rubber knickers weren’t the only way Victorian women opted to get the ideal waist hip ratio, some resorted to a stomach-churning method of intentionally ingesting tapeworm eggs.

Tapeworms are parasites which enter the human gut, primarily through unwittingly eating its eggs in undercooked beef, pork or fish.

There, they cause a host of problems, but for those seeking a slimmer waist, weight loss is the most relevant. Tapeworms can trigger weight loss by both taking food from their host, and from causing diarrhoea.

Victorian-era advertisements purporting to sell pills containing tapeworm eggs for women to lose weight indicate this was once an option and stories occasionally emerge of people today trying the same.

However, advertising rules weren’t quite up to modern day standards back in the 1800s.

Some historians have disputed if products actually claiming to have tapeworm eggs in them actually did and if this was just a case of clever marketing.

Needless to say, intentionally getting an intestinal parasite to lose weight isn’t recommended. 

Not only can it cause digestive issues, tiny eggs laid by the tapeworm can travel to other parts of the body, like the brain and other organs, causing serious disease.

It can also be counterproductive. Some people infected with tapeworms have said they actually gained weight during the infection as they hungrier and ate more as a result. 

The so-called ‘golden ratio’ refers to a waist that is 0.7 the size of the hips, in other words, 70 per cent the circumference.

This gives an hourglass or pear-like figure that naturally accentuates the curves of the female body, the hips and bust.

According to some psychologists, the logic is that men feel more attracted to women with hourglass figures because it indicates she would be an ideal mate.

Having wide hips and a small waist supposedly indicates a woman is both generally healthy and of a fertile age, meaning a higher chance of healthy offspring.

Research conducted in the 2010s found men from multiple countries were most attracted to women with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7.

For comparison, Kim — with her 26 inch waist and 41 inch hips — has a ratio of about 0.63.

Nicki Minaj, famed for her prominent posterior and bodacious curves, is thought to have an even smaller one, about 0.58 

One of the experts’ theories behind the golden ratio is that before sexual maturity girls tend to have a one-to-one waist to hip ratio and after going through the menopause, which marks an end to women’s fertility, the waist tends to exceed the hips.

They add the ample hips compared to a slim waist in pear-shaped women is also an indicator of good levels of female sex hormones like oestrogen in another potential sign of boosted fertility. 

But other studies suggest this isn’t actually true. In 2018, scientists from the University of California found women with an hourglass figures were actually less fertile than those with a comparatively higher BMI. 

Instead, they theorised men’s desire for these women was actually driven by the golden ratio being a sign of youth, rather than fertility.

Fertility is, by its nature, complex, with many factors coming into play.

While weight does play a role, with obesity harming fertility, other factors including age, general health, genetics and lifestyle factors like stress are also important.

Other experts have also highlighted problems with the so-called golden ratio being the pinnacle of female attractiveness.

They note that many of the studies supporting the idea were carried out among university age men from developed countries and similar experiments carried out in among other populations haven’t replicated the same result.

In some of these populations, one example being the island nation of Nauru, larger women are traditionally considered more attractive as it shows they have high nutritional intake and are typically wealthier. 

Experts claim such examples show men don’t have a universal instinctive desire for the hourglass-shaped women. 

Such arguments also fail to account for the desires of women themselves, researchers argue.

For example, women may want to emulate the figures of women like Kim because they desire social approval, think it will improve their mental health, or simple peer pressure as other women are also seeking an hourglass figure.