Fig 1. Comparison of male & female silhouettes

Although there are a few girdles specifically manufactured for men, most men attempt to wear women's girdles, but unfortunately they seldom get really satisfactory results. Figure 1, which compares my shape with that of my wife, will give some idea of why this is so. We are both decidedly aged advantaged, but still reasonably fit, and she is about 2" shorter than me, and weighs about 20 lbs. less. Despite this, from the front our silhouettes are surprisingly similar. Her chest and waist are about 1” narrower than mine, but her hips are almost the same. When we look at the side view, we see that again the our hips are almost the same size and shape, but whereas her waist is nipped in sharply, and her chest is rather thinner than her hips, my body increases steadily in thickness as you move up, until at the top of the chest I am about 1.5” thicker than her. We must bear in mind that both men’s and women's shapes vary widely, but these differences are fairly typical.

Our measurements are:

 

Bunyip

Lady B

cm

in

cm

in

Bust

78

36

Chest

93

36

78

31

Waist

83

33

69

27

Hips

93

36

93

36

Figure 2 shows three tables of German dress sizes. The first table is for women of normal size, the second for petite figures, and the third for women with wider hips. The 3 measurements specified are breast, waist and hips. We can see that my wife is an almost perfect size 38, but that whereas my hips are size 38, my waist is size 44, so no garment designed for a normal female figure is ever going to fit me properly.


 

Table of womens standard sizes (Germany)

Quelle catalogue 1980

In the middle of the 20th century, when girdles were relatively rigid, Berlei made much of their scientific fittings system, and models were available to fit almost every figure. It would have been possible for men to buy garments that fitted them fairly well, if they had been brave enough to ask for them, and the shop assistants of the day - sorry; expert fitters - had been prepared to fit them.


 

Girdles in multiple fittings

Sears catalogue 1992

But as rigid girdles went out of fashion, materials improved, and the percentage of women wearing girdles decreased, the ranges available were streamlined. The parameters usually specified were the waist size, hip spring (difference between hip and waist sizes in inches), and length from waist down. Towards the end of last century a few of the firmer garments still came in styles for standard, full and occasionally straight hips, typically corresponding to hip springs of 8-10”, 10-14”, and 5-8” respectively. A few also came in a choice of lengths. Figure 2, from a 1992 Sears catalogue shows two girdles for mature figures that were still available in multiple fittings. The first comes in straight and normal styles, with each available in a single length, while the second comes in straight, normal and full styles, with a normal styles available in two lengths.

Until 1997 I could buy Divine OBGs in a long straight style, which fitted me almost perfectly. Unfortunately today nearly all (if not all) girdles come in a single style specified solely by waist size. However this is not quite as bad as it sounds, as nearly all of them are made from a far more elastic material than the old-style girdles, so that accurate fitting is not nearly so critical.

 

 

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