Here are some detail pictures of the cuirass bodice of my ca. 1877 natural form dress.

Cuirass bodices were tight-fitting and rather long.

They usually had a front opening with many tiny buttons, like this 1880s natural form gown with 14 buttons. Here’s an 1880 fashion plate, an early 1880s photograph, and another 1880 fashion plate.

It took so long to sew on all those button. 😕 Particularly because I didn’t feel like sewing on the buttons for about a year! 😉