The precursor of the corset was likely the tightly laced cote worn by women of the Medieval Period (5th to 15th centuries). The cote is an outerwear bodice with two layers of fabric stiffened by glue. In the early 16th century, when corsets first made their appearance in Europe, they were constructed out of stiff material but later on steel stiffeners were sewn into the lining. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, stiffening materials such as steel, whalebone, wood, or cane were inserted into the seams or linings of different types of corsets and bodices. In the 1500-1600s, when fashion dictated rigidity in dress, European women donned a corset or bodice created to flatten the curves by compressing the stomach and the breasts until they almost disappeared. After the 16th century, women’s corsets and bodices were designed to slim the waist and uplift the breasts so that they would swell out, resembling to some degree, the exaggerated curves of a modern day “Barbie” Doll”.