(A stomacher was also a waistcoat worn by men.)
Now this gets interesting! Examine the piece of clothing below. It looks deceptively like a panty doesn't it? Maybe even a thong?!
This is called a stomacher. A stomacher is an ornamental triangular covering for the chest worn by women over their corset. That's right, the delight of seeing corset line through the stomacher was all the rage. A quote from Gentleman's Magazine remarked in 1731, "sometimes the stomacher rises almost to the chin." Which proves they were looking.
