Neck rings

Elicia suggested that I look at neck rings as my designs for the neck corset seem to be similar, and also the neck rings that the African tribes wear are for beauty as this is how they perceive beauty.

Small girls in Asia wear neck rings from age 2 to 5 to lengthen the neck slowly. However, sometimes a more rapid lengthening is used when girls reach 12 and begin competing for male attention.

These spiral metal coils are worn to lengthen the neck, and they are gradually increased to as much as 20 turns. They tend to only be worn by women, and Padaung women of the Kayan people usually start wearing the coils age 2. The weight of the coils put pressure on the clavicles to cause them to deform and appear to elongate the neck. Neck rings push the collar bones and ribs down, but they do not really extend the neck. they just give the illusion that the neck gets longer.

The South Ndebele peoples of Africa wear neck rings to show wealth and status and also as part of their traditional dress. The rings, dzilla, are only allowed to be worn by married women, so it's obviously not done to attract a partner as it is in other cultures. Metal rings can also be worn on other parts of the body too, usually made from copper or brass. They aren't harmful to remove, but could be initially uncomfortable if they've worn them for a long time prior to removal.

The brass or copper is one piece wound by hand in a spiral around the neck, which is a process that can take hours. The women claim to experience little discomfort wearing the rings, despite their 10 kilo weight. The women rarely take the rings off, only to change the sizes as the skin underneath is often discoloured and the muscles weakened (kind of like when astronauts go into space and because of the lack of gravity their muscles become weakened and they have to do extreme training when they return to Earth). Many of the women feel that the rings become a part of them and feel naked without them.

There are a few theories as to why the women started wearing the rings. Some believe it was to protect from tiger bites others say it was so they looked more like the dragons from local stories. Another belief is that they used the rings to make themselves look unattractive so they were less likely to be taken as slaves for other tribes.

Most Kayan women wear the rings to preserve the tradition, however some wear them as they attract tourists who bring in vital revenue. They are usually given a choice as to whether they want to wear the rings or not.

This also led me to look at lip plate piercing, another thing done for beauty purposes, whereas to me, it looks strange and unattractive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_ring
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2609467/Pictured-The-giraffe-women-eastern-Burma-wear-brass-rings-necks-sign-beauty.html
https://sites.google.com/site/africanneckrings/