Waist (clothing)

Waist is a common term for the bodice of a dress or for a blouse or woman's shirt from the early nineteenth century through the Edwardian period.
A shirtwaist was originally a separate blouse constructed like a shirt.
From the mid-twentieth century, shirtwaist referred to a dress with the upper portion (the bodice and sleeves) fashioned like a man's shirt, with a turnover collar and buttons down the front.