Basque (clothing)

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A basque is an item of women's clothing. The term, of French origin, originally referred to types of bodice or jacket with long tails, and in later usage a long corset, characterized by a close, contoured fit and extending past the waistline over the hips. It is so called because the original French fashion for long women's jackets was adopted from Basque traditional dress. In contemporary usage it refers only to a long item of lingerie, in effect a brassiere that continues down, stopping around the waist or the top of the hips, the lower part essentially decorative rather than providing support or indeed warmth.

In Victorian fashion, basque refers to a closely fitted bodice or jacket extending past the waistline over the hips; depending on era, it may be worn over a hoopskirt (earlier Victorian era) or bustle (later Victorian era). A basque bodice (i.e., when considered as a dress component, to be worn with a specific skirt) could also be referred to as a "corset waist", because of its close fit.^[1]

The modern French-language usage is completely different, much closer to the historic original, and usually used in the plural.