Intimate fashion

Date: 19.07.2006 Source: Magazin "/" #41 Author: Ekaterina Taratuta, Kirill Retz

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Unlike other details of costume, the history of underwear is rather short. The combination of hygienic, aesthetic, and ethic concepts of underclothes appeared in Europe no sooner than in the middle of the XVIII century. The erotic meaning of underwear was always very important.

Trousers of the old type with a cut. End of the XIX сentury. Photo from the site Artantique.ru [zoom (39k)]

From the very beginning of existence of underwear its erotic meaning was underlined. The corsages, underskirts and trousers enclosed the woman▓s figure into the ⌠armour of temptation■ putting the obstacles on the way of immodest desires and teasing at the same time. The French revolution became a serious test for underwear, in particular the neo-classic style caused by it on the threshold of XVIII and XIX centuries. Thinnest tunics-chemises of semi-transparent cambric, muslin with the raised waist and short sleeves didn▓t hid but more contoured the figure. ⌠If the shape of the legs is not seen from the shoes till the body they say that she doesn▓t know how to dress herself┘■ ≈ was written in the ⌠Moscow Mercury■ magazine in 1803. Only a tricot of the skin colour and a light kerchief supporting the breasts could be worn under such dress. Corsage-lace splendour, it seemed, forever went into the past along with the magnificent court of Bourbons.

But not all the people put the fashion above the common ideas of decency. Conservative Englishwomen, for instance, didn▓t rush to give up wearing underwear and soon Parisians started to lose the revolutionary radicalism in the costume.

Once madame de Stale asked Napoleon a question: ⌠Wtat kind of women would you choose?■. Napoleon responded: ⌠The one who can give birth to healthy children■. The emperor perceived a corset as a kind of heritage from the old time. ╚This part of the dressing representing the coquetry of bad taste constrains women and is badly reflected on children, ≈ he wrote in between two campaigns to his private doctor Corvizar. ≈ The corset reminds me of frivolous manners and makes me to foresee the new decline of the moral soon■. Gradually the underskirts come into usage again and trousers that caused a great number of discussions on the question of their correspondence to ⌠republican morals■. As a result they remained in women▓s wardrobe, though didn▓t loose the notorious reputation. But they gained more popularity among the women of demimonde: sewn of semi╛transparent cloth, decorated with embroidery and what is even more important unusually long and seen from underneath the dress, these trousers and underskirts guaranteed the attention of men.

By that time not the tailors but special corset masters produced the corsets, and after 1820 the first industrial production appears. In 1828 the laced corsets with cut loops were replaced by the corsets that were tightened with the help of inserted metal snaps. Later on, in 1825, the fastener made of blocks was invented. All these innovations allowed tightening the waist more and more. The ╚Parisian silhouette╩ has become the apotheosis of the 1840s when all the drawing of the dress was determined by a wasp waist, lowered line of the shoulders and the huge skirt. This dress was worn with lots of underskirts among them were crinoline skirt till the knees, linen with the additive of horse▓s hair in order to give it additional volume.

Bodice for the corsage of the thinnest cambric with lace. Beginning of the XX century. Photo from the site Artantique.ru [zoom (70k)]

The quantity of underskirts was strictly regulated at that time: half of a dozen of skirts was to be worn with an elegant dress. The skirts were white, colourful underwear was considered to be inelegant and even immoral.

Till the 1840s separate parts of corsets were cut out and sewed manually. Then the production became serial ≈ they were produced on special machines. In the 1950s they started to use recently invented sewing machine in Germany. The Frenchmen were the first to produce the corsets at manufactures. A little bit later, in the second half of the XIX century the first German corset factories appeared. They were situated in the county Baden╛Wurttemberg where the sewing industry that was in crisis at that time started to receive subsidies from the state. The South-German firm ⌠Felina■ can be a good example ≈ this factory was founded in 1885 in the resort place Rappenau as a manufacture producing corsets.

In the 1850√1860s the starched and crinoline skirts were replaced by metallic constructions ≈ the crinoline as a skirt on the metal rings appeared. Now the morning dressing ceremony of the lady lasted for a very long time and had several stages. Firstly they put on the chemise, the stockings and the trousers open in the front part, then the corset made of whalebone. Only then went the crinoline. Usually two skirts were put on after it: the first one made of cotton was simple; the second one could be decorated with embroidery and lace. The dress was put on above all this.

In the 1870s the crinolines were replaced by new fashions, that closely fitted the thighs (bustle and tunic) and along with them appeared a new shape of the corset ≈ it went till the thighs. It weighed a few kilos and pressed not only the breast and the waist, tightening it till 40 cm, but also the lower part of the belly ≈ according to the fashion ⌠sans ventre■. The underskirt became shorter than the dress itself and didn▓t hide the ankles. Colourful underskirts made of heavily rustling cloths ≈ famous ⌠frou-frou■ came into fashion.

In the 1890s the fastener consisting of two solid steel lines, one of which had the pins, and the other ≈ holes of special shape, replaced the lacing. This invention gave the opportunity to fasten and unfasten the corset very quickly.

An unmarried man, especially a young man from a good family could hardly imagine how a woman▓s body looked like, as, according to Stefan Zweig▓s words ╚a woman in order to look like a real lady should have hidden her natural forms by all means. Even the sun, air and water were not allowed to touch the naked skin of a woman.

Bodice for the corsage. End of the XIX century. Machine lace. Photo from the site Artantique.ru [zoom (50k)]

┘In boarding schools and monasteries the girls were to take the bath in long white chemises. It is not a fairy tale or exaggeration that women lived till the old age and nobody but for their husbands, midwifes and those who later washed their dead bodies saw neither their shoulder line nor a knee■. At that time an elegant woman wore about 2.5 kilos of underwear: trousers, chemise, ⌠decency skirt■, underskirt, second underskirt. In winter they also wore warm underwear. A woman was enclosed into a giant corsage tightening her from the shoulders till the thighs. Besides that she wore a long chemise ⌠cache-corset■ (hiding a corset), over corsage bodices, blouses, waistcoats┘ It took two hours to undress this onion and the aid of an experienced assistant ≈ a maid: ⌠┘ dressing and undressing was a complicated procedure that was simply impossible without somebody▓s aid. At first innumerable hooks and loops were to be fastened from behind, then with joint efforts of the servants the corsage was to be tightened... A great number of underskirts, waistcoats, jackets and blouses under which as under the onion peel were hidden all the traces of her womanly individuality were put on her┘ The body lines were hidden so thoroughly that a future husband couldn▓t imagine the shapes of his wife even at the wedding ceremony┘■.

But every action causes an appropriate counter-action. And the end of the XIX gave the birth to the real cult of underwear including cabaret culture, cancan and frivolous magazines ≈ such as ⌠La Vie parisienne■, the ancestor of today▓s ⌠Playboy■.

In comparison with this captivating story, full of intrigues and tempting mysteries, the history of men▓s underwear is much simpler and boring. Underpants ≈ underwear trousers of cheap cotton cloth and a underwear chemise peacefully and without any upheavals lasted till the 1880s, when the German sanitarian doctor Eger introduced wool knitted fabric as a basic material for them. The underpants became shorter and shorter: till the middle of the calf, till the knee, till the middle of the thigh, and then became the prototype of modern pants. The beginning of the XX century was marked by the appearance of the new silhouette of the woman▓s figure, reminding of Latin ⌠S■ letter: the upper part of the body was bent forward (⌠pigeon▓s breast■), the belly pulled in, and the thighs with exaggeratedly coming out buttocks moved back. This effect was also reached with the help of a special corsage tightening the waist till 55 cm. The traditional bones were replaces by incorporations of more flexible materials in new corsages what made them more comfortable. By the end of the XIX century, when there was an industrial production of corsages, they mainly used the special cloth ⌠cuti■ for them. As in Europe not only well-off ladies but the representatives of different layers of society wore corsages, it was to be comfortable and functional, and the cloth rather durable. ⌠Cuti■ cloth responded to all these demands.

Silk Dressing Jacket. Photo from the site antiquedress.com [zoom (50k)]

Norwegian whalebone used for the carcass was gradually replaced by steel plates of Swedish production. The production of Novelone brand was very popular: the factories belonging to this company processed a few tones of steel yearly.

Traditionally underwear was purchased in numerous small stores vending home-made goods. This was related to the specific qualities of the goods ≈ often the corsage was to be fitted to the figure of the client or produced individually. Then the corsages were sold in big trading centres.

By the beginning of the XX century the demands to reform women▓s clothes in order to make it healthier and more natural were louder and louder: it is not a secret that constant pressure deformed the body damaging the internals. Different kinds of brassieres appeared on the market. But still they were produced within the limits of the tradition: many of them had whalebone rods, spiral springs or inlays with lacing. And even when the prototypes of the first brassiere close to the modern ones ≈ French model ⌠Callimaste■ constructed of elastic bands appeared, the corsages were still in usage ≈ ⌠Callimaste■ was often worn under the corsage.

The first considerable success to ⌠anti-corsage■ movement was brought not by hygiene but by the new fashion. In 1905 a French designer Paul Poiret introduced the dresses of free cut: such so that everything ⌠scattered in the air and flew■. Under the dresses of the kind ⌠corselets■ ≈ light and flexible corset of caoutchouc with elastic bustiers and bodices were worn. In the period of time before the First World War this corset made the belly flat and the buttocks incredibly protruded.

From 1910 and on the lower part of the body, on the contrary, obtained the straight lines and the fashion magazines showed the women without waist and thighs. All the secret of these surprising changes lied in the underwear: corsage rods became very long.

But at that time the way of life of women changed to a great deal. They started to ride bicycles, go hiking, strived to free the body and chose the clothes that minimally constrained the movements. The tightly fitting pants looking like those we know today appeared, and became the part of the everyday woman▓s dressing due to their comfort and universality. Gradually the elements of the new set of underwear appear ≈ suspender belt and brassiere. Initially the straps with buckles for the stockings were attached directly to the lower part of the corsage. Then they were attached to the belt produced of ⌠cuti■ cloth with elastic insets. It is considered that the suspender belt was invented in 1878 by France Ferreole Dedier ≈ though in the USA this part of the dressing was known before as ⌠American straps■. From 1908 the straps were produced of rubber. The belt became more and more popular both in the USA and in Europe and came into broad usage before the Second World War when the corsage disappeared completely.

Corset. 1880s. Photo from the site antiquedress.com [zoom (45k)]

The brassiere was invented several times. For the first time it appeared in 1889 when Hermine Cadolle exhibited the object that got the title ⌠le bien-etre■ ≈ ⌠Well-being■. Its cups were supported by two sateen bands, and from behind the construction was attached to the corsage. In 1893 Mary Tuchek patented ⌠bust-holder■ ≈ the device very similar to modern brassieres.

In 1900 woman╛doctor Gosh Saro worked out a corsage leaning only on the thighs ≈ according to her opinion, it was less harmful than other corsages. But it was not a success. In three years Saro decided to improve her invention: she cut the corsage into two parts the upper of which could have been the prototype of modern brassiere. Alas, this innovation had the same destiny.

In 10 years one of the high-society ladies from the USA Mary Phelps Jacob bought ⌠for public occasions■ one of the newly appeared Poiret▓s dressings of which it was written above. She immediately faced the problem: the low-cut dress and traditional corsage were incompatible. Then she addressed her imagination and a maid and in a couple of hours they produced a simple soft bodice not covering the back out of two kerchiefs, a band and a cord.

Mary Jacob patented her product in November 1914 having called it backless brassiere. The object appeared on the market under the brand Caresse Crosby, but because of the lack of advertisement the business didn▓t go far. Mary▓s husband who worked for Warner Brothers Corset Company that produced corsages offered the novelty to the owners of the firm, who purchased Mary▓s invention for $15,000, a great sum of money at that time.

The final blow to the tough corsage and multi-layer underwear that accompanied it was given by World War I. The tension of the economics of the participating countries, the women who replaced the men who had gone to war in the industry and in household works, the growing independence of women ≈ all this made the woman to abandon the seductive but uncomfortable dressing. The set of underwear close to the modern one ≈ brassiere and pants, appeared.

Elastic bodice that appeared anew in the 1920s and 1950s couldn▓t change the main tendency of the XX century that strived to follow the natural proportions of woman▓s figure.