24-year-old Michele Koebke wants to set a new record for the World’s Tiniest Waist. To reach her goal, she has worn corsets every day and night for the last three years, taking them off only when she showers. Unfortunately this unusual fascination with corsets is taking a toll on her health.
Michele Koebke is a big fan of the 19th century wasp waist fashion silhouette, which had women wearing tight corsets to shrink their waists and attain a look similar to the wasp’s segmented body. Only she has taken her passion to the extreme by wearing a corset every day and night since the end of 2009, in the hopes that she might someday set a new record for the world’s smallest waist. During the last 3 years, Michele has managed to shrink her waist from 64cm to 54 cm, which gives her hope that she may one day surpass her idol, Cathie Jung, whose 34cm waist is currently considered the tiniest. Although she admits gradually squeezing her body into smaller and smaller corsets is like an extreme sport, which leaves her breathless and unable to consume a normal size meal, the young Berlin native says she loves her pretty deformed waist.
Photo: Michele Koebke/Facebook
Wearing corsets for such a a long period of time has weakened Michele’s abdominal muscles so much that she has problems standing up when she is not wearing them. Her stomach has been pushed out of its normal horizontal position and is now so constricted that she has to eat up to 10 tiny meals a day, instead of the usual three. During a Barcroft TV video report, Koebke went to see Dr. Rudiger Langer, an internal medicine expert, who told her “In time it won’t be possible to move without the corset, or in the worst case it won’t be possible to move in general.” The grim forecast regarding her future had very little effect on the corset enthusiast, who said she already knew the risks when she started wearing the tight garments.
Photo: Michele Koebke/Facebook
Although not everyone likes her deformed waist, Michele Koebke has thousands of supporters, especially on YouTube, where she regularly posts videos documenting her transformation. She is determined to keep wearing corsets at least until she achieves 38 centimeters.
