Main page

Topical item of the day

What's new

About this website

  

Fashionably dressed ladies at the Melbourne Cup in 1955

For more than 100 years hats, gloves, girdles (or corsets) & stockings had been virtually compulsory for anyone appearing in public who wished to be considered a 'lady'. Note the nipped-in waists, and the suspender bump on the thigh of the lady at the right.

The end of the 20th century coincides with the effective end of the reign of the foundation garment. For more than 500 years Western women had been virtually compelled to wear some form of 'shapewear', to 'improve' the shapes of their bodies. This was part of the general requirement -- and desire -- to 'be fashionable'. But the tyranny of fashion was overthrown in the late sixties, and since then the rule in dressing, as in almost everything else, has been 'Anything goes'.

Foundation garments are still worn, although 'Girdle' is almost a dirty word, and they are referred to as shapers or control top pantyhose, but there is no longer any universal rule that they shall be worn.

The old-fashioned foundation garment, with its bones and rigid panels, and its garters to hold up the equally compulsory stockings, has almost completely disappeared. Most women will say 'and good riddance, too!', but there are still some women, and a lot more men, who hanker for those 'Good Old Days'.

This site aims to recall some of the magic and mystery of those more elegant days, both for the oldies who recall them with nostalgia, and for young folk who wonder what all the fuss was about.

 

Contact the author