Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What did women wear for small waists?

Alexandra said in a comment on my previous mail that she would want "whatever undergarments they wore to make their hips and waists look like that. (They can keep the bullet bras.)".

It reminded me of a link recently shared on a Dutch sewing forum which shows what women did wear. Alexandra, would you want to wear this (as if you would need it)? I definitely don't want to, even if it would make my hips look smaller.

11 comments:

  1. I remember well those. My mother had a whole collection of them. She felt she needed them after bearing 8 children. She used to wear them underneath her skirt suits.
    Today's corsets are much more streamlined and very efficient. I admit I own few. The "technic" knits and stretch fabrics makes them comfortable and efficient. Actresses and women under scrutiny of cameras (i.e. politicians) wear them a lot.

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  2. There was a lot of talk about how difficult it was for the women on Mad Men to get dressed for the show. Definitely not for me! Sigrid, Mad Men is a tv show that takes place in 1950's NYC.

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  3. Sigrid - your posts in my feed reader have suddenly changed from showing the beautiful, full posts to really short excerpts over the last few days (which is really annoying). Is there any chance you could have a look at your settings and make sure the RSS feeds are set to display the full posts again? I learn so much from your blog that I'd hate to miss anything!

    Oh, and I made my first bra this weekend. You were totally my inspiration!!

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  4. Just as I suspected- and no, I would not wear these things, breathing is far too important :))

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  5. They look almost identical to the modern "body shapers" currently available. The main difference being body shapers are made from lycra and likely far more comfortable, although I still would never wear one. :) It seems everything comes full circle eventually.

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  6. I hate to be contradictory but I LOVE corsets

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  7. LOL. That vintage underwear definitely was designed to give that very tiny waisted look. In some cases, such as models, padded undergarments were worn to fill out body areas to give that hour glass shape. Most models who are very thin don't have a very curvy shape, so even in the 50's a little padding was used. As for myself, while I wear and love vintage clothing, I don't do the underwear. Fortunately, like you, I have a small waist compared to the rest of my measurements.

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  8. That's just too much sacrifice to look slim and elegant!

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  9. Late comment, I apologize. I followed the link in your post and got lost for hours, exploring the world of girdles and such things, and forgot to come back.
    Yes, I would wear such things, at least in decent weather. Not when it's too hot :-) I just love the shape they give.

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  10. Ooooh, and can you add the link to the Dutch sewing forum?

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  11. Katharina: the link to the Dutch forum: www.zelflingeriemaken.yourbb.nl

    It's about sewing lingerie.

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