Classic Thirties Laced Girdle

Michael Colmer Whalebone to See-Throughp66

This attractive lady is wearing a classic laced girdle from the early thirties. It is front laced, and has a hook and eye fastening alongside the lacing. It appears there may be small elastic inserts at the bottom, on either side of the rigid front panel, and an elastic cuff at the top. It has (probably) six sturdy, but rather lumpy, suspenders to hold up the rigid stockings of the day.

It is a triumph of the girdle makers art, but to our eye it does not look as if it would be very comfortable. However several people have reported that their elderly relatives complained that the new elastic girdles were not as comfortable as their old laced ones.

The explanation for this may be that there is a fundamental difference between a laced girdle, and an elastic one, in that if you put on a corset, laced moderately tightly, and pull your tummy in, you can pull it away from the corset, so that the latter is not imposing any force on the tummy. However if you try to push your tummy out, you can't, because the corset is an immovable object. So the corset is not as uncomfortable as you might imagine, because you can always get relief from the pressure by holding your tummy in. It may even encourage you to do so.

On the other hand, a modern elastic girdle always exerts the same force on your tummy, whether you pull in or push it out, so you can't get any relief from it. And it can't reduce your waist by anything like the same amount, because it would have to be impossibly tight, all the time, to do so.

 


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