LINGERIE
Lingerie is a term, derived from the French
language, for women's undergarments. These garments are heavily eroticised in
Western culture. Women have worn everything from a heavy whalebone contraption
with laces and pulleys, all the way to the light silky sexy lingerie of today.
HISTORY
Well before Christ, on the island of Crete, women
were very bold. Their idea of lingerie was a boned bodice corset, designed not
for support, but to tease men, by pushing their breasts up and out, literally
exposing them in their entire splendour. Although they achieved the “sexy” part,
the “lingerie” part was nothing like what we think of as lingerie today.
Throughout time, as each vision of the woman's silhouette emerged, clothing was
created to fit and accentuate this shape. There were two main elements in a
silhouette, the bust and the butt. Some societies wanted the bust to be
prominent, while some felt that the butt should be the “point of interest”.
Greek women were corseted. Under the Greek Chiton
a leather band style corset was worn and this gave definition to the hips and
bust. From birth, girls were swaddled. For six months their arms and legs were
bound in swaddling cloths restricting their movement and keeping limbs straight.
Adolescent Greek girls were forced to keep trim. Their Greek mothers used
woollen bands to keep the developing body slim.
In the Middle Ages it was felt that the silhouette should be restrained,
especially the breasts, which they thought should be firm and small. In those
days, women wore many styles of corsets over their dresses, all with the similar
purpose of flattening their breasts. An iron hinged armour like corset was worn
to flatten the body giving a smooth outline beneath gowns. The iron corset must
have been exceptionally uncomfortable and heavy to wear and could only have been
worn by Elizabethan ladies not doing any form of heavy work. Their only benefit
seems to be that they produced the incredibly small waisted, elongated flat
chested smooth line torso. This was illustrated in paintings of great
Elizabethan ladies wearing fabulous structured bejewelled gowns. And in case
some men didn’t notice this flattering flattening, some women actually attached
small bells around their neckline – the jingling bringing attention to the
jiggling.
During the Renaissance, the Spanish saw the silhouette as padded in all the
right places. They wanted to see women with cone-shaped breasts, flat stomachs
and narrow waists. Women had to have other people dress them because the
cinching up of their corsets was done up their backs and required a lot of
strength.
Doctors complained that these corsets compressed women’s bodies so tightly,
their internal organs were being squeezed, and their ribs were being pushed out
of shape. It was quite common for women to swoon and faint. There was one report
of a woman who actually died when her ribs were cinched so tightly that they
pierced her liver.
A petticoat construction called a Spanish
farthingale (after a popular Spanish fashion that influenced Western Europe) was
worn with the corset in England. The farthingale which graduated in width from
hip to floor supported voluminous skirts and had hoops which gave it shape. The
hoops were made of wood, rushes, wire or whalebone. Consequently it was very
uncomfortable and heavy in wear, but had major effects on deportment ensuring
that the wearer could only move by gliding in an elegant way.
The farthingale was later worn with a roll of stiffened
material called a Bum Roll.
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Sixteenth century lady adjusting a bum
roll used to support the folds of skirt fabric surrounding the
waist. |
By the 18th century, life was becoming lighter, and clothing trends followed.
Although the whalebone structure of the corset still kept women tightly
silhouetted, there was a definite movement to incorporate the artistry that
marked the era. Corsets were decorated with beautiful embroidery, ribbons and
laces. They also pushed the breasts up, threatening to jump right out.
Later in the 18th century, people started rebelling against many things and
corsets were no exception. Again, doctors spoke out about the dangers of these
body presses. And this time they were heard and actually had boned corsets
outlawed.
The softer silhouette was highlighted by the early 1800s. The silhouette was
still enhanced, calling for the support that the old corset had given. So the
corset returned, but with more elaborate methods of construction. Boning was
still used, but in smaller sections, allowing for more movement. And since the
fashion of the day was for a more separated look for breasts, a corset-maker
named Leroy came up with a model he called a “divorce”. The problem of lacing
and unlacing was met by corset designers – they developed systems that allowed
women to undress themselves.
During the 1840s, with the much-exaggerated silhouette for women, whalebone came
back into use, but this time with huge hoops and crinolines, covered with all
kinds of fabric and trim.
The hoop-and-crinoline look was soon replaced by the soft-S silhouette, still
using the corset, but adding the bustle to the back. This was fine, except women
had to stand a lot because most of their butts were covered by the cumbersome
bustle. Women wore about 5 ponds of underwear (knickers, corset, camisole, waist
slip) and corseted themselves tighter than ever. The crinoline supported yards
of fabric that completely exaggerated women's figures. As fashion design became
more innovative, more varieties of corsets were created. Now you could get a
lightly-boned corset for the morning, a boneless corset for the beach, an
elastic corset for horseback riding, and a jersey corset for bicycle riding.
By the end of the 19th century, the corset had become a supporter not only of
breasts, but of the newly-created stockings. Stockings were held up by garters
and suspenders attached to the corset.
By the beginning of the 20th century, corsets were being laced down as far as
the knee. But many people didn’t like that style, and fashion designers were
leaning towards an uncorseted, more free-flowing style. With the advent of the
industrial revolution, and the invention of the sewing machine, Germany and
France opened the first corset factories.
In 1913, Mary Phelps Jacob created a new type of bra. It was much softer and
much shorter than a corset. And it allowed the breasts to be shaped in their
natural state. When too many people started asking Mary for her design, she
thought she’d better get it protected. So she applied for a patent. She
eventually sold this patent to Warner Company.
Early supposedly healthier Reform Bodice bra
with mesh net cups that gave virtually no support
Mary Phelps Jacobs patent
After World War I, women began to enter the workforce and corsets were
definitely not appropriate for wear in factories. They needed shorter skirts
made of cooler and lighter fabric that was easy to care for.
The 1920s with it’s elaborate parties meant the boyish silhouette was in.
The quest for flat chests and stomachs, and straight hips and buttocks, led the
fashion industry to create the liberty bodice, the chemise, and bloomers –
loose-fitting and light.
liberty bodice
And a long-overdue substitute for plain old white
appeared – pastel coloured lingerie. The first brassieres were designed to
flatten the breasts, adding to the total boyish look. The corset was no longer
needed – except the bottom part that held up the stockings. So the corset was
shortened right down to a belt – the suspender belt.
The 1930s brought with them a complete turnaround in the shape of the desired
silhouette. Women were encouraged to look well-proportioned, full-figured, but
still reasonably slim in the hips. Now women had a full set of lingerie to
outfit themselves – a breast-enhancing brassiere, an elastic suspender belt, and
the girdle, that kept all the curves in the right places.
One of the biggest advancements in the lingerie industry came in the 1930s when
Dunlop Rubber invented Lastex. Lastex was an elastic fibre that could be
interwoven with the fabric used to make lingerie fashions. Now the industry
could make lingerie in various sizes, to properly fit a woman’s shape.
But then came World War II, and with it, its shortages. People started making
home-knitted underwear out of anything they could find.
After the war, lingerie consisted of the basic bras and suspender belts. This
was the norm for most women. But the teenage girl, emerging from the oppression
of the war, and looking for excitement, became a target market. These teenagers
were anxious to grow up, and wearing lingerie was a big step towards getting
there. So the lingerie industry started to create lingerie sets that would
attract the attention of these young girls.
In America, the lingerie industry was making its own mark. Everyone was trying
to create something new and different. The market was flooded with all kinds of
innovations to help women look sexy. For example, Howard Hughes created a new
bra – a special wire-reinforced design for Jane Russell.
The silhouette suffered as bras were burned in the 60s. There was a wave of
women’s emancipation movements and feminists burned their bras. This movement
gave the lingerie industry a heavy hit. Many manufacturers were forced out of
business. But on the positive side, Lycra had just been invented, and women’s
legs began to be adorned in tights or, even better for the men, the sexy little
mini-skirt. And with the mini-skirt came a demand for bikini briefs.
By the 1980s, wire-reinforced bras had become the number-one seller. For those
who need that added support, these are still very popular today. Probably the
biggest seller was the push-up bra.
Towards the end of the 20th Century and beginning
of the 21st fashion was pushing women to show off the underwear as outerwear
that is worn for the visual enjoyment of a partner. Lingerie is to be thought of
by many women as a second skin. All tastes and wishes are catered for. Women are
free in their lingerie choices more than ever.
Today’s silhouette varies in shape. Obviously, the purpose of lingerie hasn’t
changed – women still want to look sexy. The only thing that has changed is the
method. We now have a society that allows much more freedom than in the past. We
have lighter, lacier, sexier fabric. We have more liberal ideas of how much can
be bared. And of course, the men are all for it. So the goal of the lingerie
industry remains the same – to create an image of a woman who’s desirable and
sexy. Today, lingerie is the most beautiful, luxurious and feminine clothes that
is worn intimately and appreciated for its practicality and comfort.
Crazy Facts Corner
- The amount of material it took to fully
clothe a woman dropped by 80% between 1911 and 1922
- A hoop skirt was believed to be "the
*only* article of clothing which stands a chance of saving you from
quicksand."
- In Iowa it used to be illegal for a woman
not to wear a corset.
Links:
http://www.flirtylingerie.com/hiofli.html
http://www.serge-lingerie.com/lingerie_history.html
http://fashion-era.com/bras_and_girdles.htm
Researched by Angua-
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