As you buy costumes online, note if your family history is comprised of colorful figures. Perhaps due to their nature, corsets possess a family history just as colorful. The earliest ancestor of a corset was the first rope a female tied around her waist in order to accentuate the waistline. Cretan ladies might’ve been the initial ones to dress in something resembling the corset, covering just the hips and waist, over 3,000 years ago.