Humerous card featuring old Permalift ad

The classic girdle of the fifties was approximately a cone of (usually elastic) cloth, worn on a conical set of hips. So, inevitably, it tried to rise up off the hips and roll itself up around the waist. If it managed to achieve this it not only ceased to perform its function of smoothing the tummy and hips, but it also became very uncomfortable. This tendency could be limited by increasing the height of the waist, so that it pressed against the ribs, and adding numerous bones to prevent the girdle from sliding up, and/or by making the stockings just the right length so that they held the girdle at the correct position.

But this required that the length of the stockings should be just right, and this delicate balance was difficult to achieve. So one of the best-known actions of the well-dressed lady of the day was the "girdle tug" to pull the girdle down, usually administered surreptitiously when the lady didn't think anyone was watching.

The Perma-lift Girdle Company made a whole series of advertisements in which a well-dressed lady was administering the tug while walking away from the camera, while a lady in Perma-lift bra and girdle strode confidently toward the camera. The punch line read;

'Obviously, the lady doesn't know
Perma-lift’s Magic Oval Pantie
CAN'T RIDE UP EVER'

I haven't been able to find a decent copy of any of the original advertisements, so I have scanned a humorous card which is a skit on one. The message inside is "Now that congratulations are in order, maybe you can start adding to your wardrobe!"

(And I would have thought that any pantygirdle would have largely overcome the problem of girdle rise, which was primarily a problem with OBGs.)

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