Dress. Culture: American. Manufacturer: Textile by James McCreary and Co., N.Y. (American). Date: 1876-78.An hourglass silhouette with a princess-seamed structure called the "cuirasse" was created with a high waist, just an inch or two under the bust. It was an upholstered, exaggerated shape achieved with a corset and a spoon busk to cup and re-form the abdomen. American dress reformers, many newly directed former anti-slavery advocates, came together in the 1870s in specific opposition to such deliberate body molding. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.