The feminine shape is well recognized to vary significantly. According to history, this has always been the case!
What has been popular for the contour of the female body has shifted from extreme to extreme over time. However, the charming feminine figure has always been vulnerable to whatever is covering it, and history demonstrates that it has been covered in various ways. Furthermore, the style of fashionable contemporary adornments has accentuated, hidden, decreased, and expanded certain areas of the feminine body.
We've seen some inconceivable extremes, from gadgets that required a small army to coerce the unlucky fashion victim into the flimsiest, most whimsical simple flutter of a garment. Let's go back in time to see how seductive lingerie evolved and got to where it is today.
First and first, let's define specific terms. We now nearly invariably refer to feminine 'underwear' as 'lingerie', thanks to the world's most amorous language - unless we're being derogatory, in which case, depending on where you live, you can fill in the blanks!
When we (at least those of us of the masculine gender) think of lingerie, we envision a flimsy cloth embellishing the feminine body in a way that hints at the delights that lie beneath. But the 'first' lingerie, which was most likely from one of the Ancient Greek islands, was quite different. These seductive Greek women wore a boned corset that was tight around the stomach, not for support or even a a'slimming' effect, but to captivate their lovers by exposing their prominent breasts. It's probably not what we'd call lingerie today, but it achieves the same effect.
As time passed, the feminine body took on various 'ideal' shapes based on what was popular. As each 'ideal' shape formed, adornments were created and brought out to enhance and complement that particular shape. Society's culture determined whether the breasts, the bottom, or both would be emphasized and venerated. You could say that nothing has changed!
During the Middle Ages, it was assumed that a woman's natural form and shape should be confined, and her breasts should be solid and small. This was probably fine for people who were naturally constructed that way, but not so much for those who were built larger. Corsets of various types were worn with the sole goal of flattening the breasts and/or the bottom. Some ladies were reported to wear tinkling bells around their necks to remind men folk of the delights that still lay underneath to draw attention to that region of the body that shouldn't draw notice.
Catherine de Médicis, the wife of King Henri II of France, is credited with inventing the modern corset. During the 1550s, she imposed a ban on large waists at court, which had a negative impact on women for the next 350 years.
Another alteration in the favoured feminine shape occurred throughout the Renaissance. Women were now expected to have cone-shaped breasts, flat tummies, and thin waists. Women also needed servants or family members to dress them to achieve this look because cinching their corsets was done from behind and required a lot of effort.
Doctors and other notaries claimed that these corsets constricted women's bodies so tightly that their internal organs were injured, and their ribs were permanently deformed as a result of this artificial means of achieving 'perfection.' It was usual for women in the period to black out or go into a trance. This was commonly attributed to their sensitive nature. However it was actually due to their difficulty breathing! There have been numerous reports of women dying as a result of fatal punctures to important organs caused by this procedure.
The whalebone corset still kept women tightly bound in the early 18th century, but the artistry that mirrored the times was delicately incorporated into apparel, and the corsets were embellished with lovely ribbons lace, and embroidery. One aspect of this lightening up was the trend for the breasts to be pushed upwards to the point of practically protruding.
By the end of the 18th century, the corset was being worn by the gentry, the expanding middle class, and even convent nuns. Because it was a prominent exterior item of clothing in the period, its wearer typically proudly showed it. It was an object of beauty and decoration in and of itself, and its presentation was part of social civility.
People began to examine and critique many things as they became more educated and informed, including art, politics, and, you guessed it, in things. With the help of professionals such as doctors, public opinion shifted to the point that boned corsets were forbidden in several nations.
By the early nineteenth century, a more softer approach to the feminine figure had become fashionable. The in thing still required the support the old corset provided, so it reappeared with more complicated fabrication methods. Boning was still used in small portions, allowing for more fluid and pleasant movement.
The trend at the time was for a more detached look for breasts, and a corsetiere named M Leroy (who produced the wedding corset for Marie Luise of Austria when she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810) created a form he termed a 'divorce,' purportedly because of the separation involved. Perhaps the most significant part of this was that women could dress and undress themselves thanks to more intricate lacing systems.
The excessively exaggerated shape for ladies in the 1840s caused whalebone to come back with giant hoops and crinolines draped in all types of fabric and fineries. Unfortunately for women, having waists small enough for a man to put his hands around became the in thing. The necessity for even tighter waist-cinching became the feminine nightmare of the day.
The smooth 'S' silhouette quickly supplanted hoops and crinolines. The corset was still employed in this form, but a bustle was added to the back, giving an enlarged posterior. It was once again the ladies who had to suffer for it, having to stand most of the time due to the bulky bustle on their posteriors. This was obviously tempting to guys since it provided them with more opportunity to gaze at the sexy women with their enormous bustles.
Corsets came in a wide range of styles as product design became increasingly innovative. A lady could wear a lightly boned corset for promenading in the morning, an elastic corset for riding sidesaddle, a boneless corset for a trip to the beach, and a jersey corset for riding her penny farthing in the afternoon. The corsetry industry was thriving!
By the end of the nineteenth century, the corset was supporting not just the breasts but also the newly invented stocking. Garters and suspenders held up the socks, which were subsequently fastened to the corset. While a design achievement, these devices most likely added another aggravating dimension to the in-thing-conscious feminine of the day.
Corsets were laced down to the knee by the turn of the twentieth century. However, many people disliked that style, and designers were increasingly veering toward an uncorseted, more free-flowing style. Sexy lingerie was going to take on a whole new level. Germany and France established the first corset factories following the industrial revolution and the invention of the sewing machine.
Mary Phelps Jacob, a New York socialite, introduced a new brassiere style in 1910. Mary worked with her maid to stitch two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon and cord after she was dissatisfied with the corset strengthened with whalebone that she was supposed to wear under a new sheer evening gown. It was softer and shorter than a corset, allowing the breasts to be moulded naturally.
Mary Phelps Jacob was the first to patent a type of underwear known as 'Brassiere,' which was derived from the old French phrase for 'upper arm.' She promptly sold the brassiere patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for $1,500 (about $25,600 today).
In 1917, the United States War Industries Board requested that women refrain from purchasing corsets to free up metal for producing war materials. This procedure liberated around 28,000 tons of metal, enough to construct two battleships.
The success of the brassiere is mainly attributed to World War I. The Great War fundamentally altered gender norms, forcing many women to work in factories and wear uniforms for the first time. Women required functional and comfortable undergarments. Over the next thirty years, Warner earned more than $15 million from the brassiere patent.
Another factor in the corset's demise was the fact that the Great War had taken its toll on the number of men. This meant that women had to look their sexiest to get a male. Thus, they had to look their best!
The boyish style became fashionable with the Roaring Twenties and its elegant parties. The pursuit of flat chests, stomachs, straight hips, and buttocks resulted in the creation of the loose-fitting and light liberty bodice, chemise, and bloomers. Pastel-coloured underwear replaced plain old-fashioned white for the first time. The early brassieres were created to flatten the breasts to accentuate the boyish appearance. What became of the corset? The section that held the stockings up was shortened and became the suspender belt.
In the 1930s, the full-figured appearance made a comeback. The feminine look became popular once more. Women were urged to have a whole body while remaining somewhat thin in the hips. Women now had a full set of underwear to help with their image: breast-enhancing brassieres, elastic suspender belts, and the girdle, which kept all the curves in place.
The Dunlop Rubber firm produced Lastex, an elastic, two-way stretch textile made from the tiny thread of a chemically modified rubber called Latex, in the 1930s, which was one of the most significant advances in the underwear industry. This might be interlaced with fabric, allowing the business to produce underwear in various sizes to accommodate a woman's physique.
Due to the coming of World War II and its resulting shortages, Germany could not import the materials they had previously used, and their business failed. People, ever ingenious, began knitting underpants at home from scrap materials. They weren't the most attractive underwear, but they kept me warm.
Following the war, underwear was limited to rudimentary brassieres and suspender belts. Many ladies found this acceptable, but the teenage girl, fresh from the hardships of the war years, became a target market. These young women couldn't wait to mature into women, and wearing lingerie was a great way to get there. The German underwear business responded by producing lingerie sets that appealed to these young girls, and the industry has never looked back.
The underwear industry in the United States attempted to create something novel and cutting-edge. Women were assaulted with various undergarments and top clothes to make them appear seductive. Howard Hughes, the film producer, introduced a new brassiere, a special wire-reinforced design for Jane Russell. Because of Hughes' fantastically ingenious brassiere enhancements, the censors threw a fit about Miss Russell's breasts being openly exposed.
Because of the rise of women's emancipation movements, the 1960s were a horrible decade for the underwear sector. Feminists set fire to their brassieres, forcing numerous lingerie makers out of business. On the other hand, Lycra had only recently been invented, and women began wearing tight-fitting leggings. However, the symbolic item of that decade was perhaps the beautiful tiny mini-skirt and the need for bikini briefs. Topless swimsuits and topless skirts were famously popular for a brief period. But, sadly for most guys and thankfully for the fashion business, they were only a "flash in the pan!"
The wire-reinforced brassiere was the best-selling item in the 1980s. While these are still popular today, the push-up bra is the greatest selling at the time. According to statistics, the average American woman has six brassieres, one of which is a strapless bra and one that is not white.
Modern, feminine shapes vary and are less responsive to fashion trends than in the past. The charming sex, on the other hand, will always look stunning in beautiful, slinky lingerie!
So there you have it, from ancient Greece's push-up corsets to today's push-up brassiere. Sexy underwear? Nothing really ever changes!
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