Underneath it all- a few words about panties

After girdles and bras I think it’s time to talk a bit about underpants. Or panties, knickers, briefs, drawers- there’s a Swedish idiom that say that a beloved child has many names, and that’s seems to be true for the most intimate of all undergarments. It’s also a rather new one. Knickers have been worn under gowns earlier, but not until the 19th century it became more common. At the beginning of the 20th century, underpants were voluminous things that reached at least to the knees.

Briefly about bras

I talked about bras in the corset and girdles posts, but it’s a garment that deserves a post on its own. Breast supports of some kind have probably been around since people started to wear clothes. There is a Roman mosaic that depicts exercising girls clad in something that looks quite a lot like a modern bikini.

So you want to wear a girdle?

Then you may want to read this post. There is no doubt that a proper foundation do a lot for the way clothes hang and vintage clothes are made for women who wore that. If you look at these two pictures, it’s the same dress (albeit the second one has added sleeves) and the same me in a dress after a 1950’s pattern. In the first picture I wear modern shapewear, in the second a corset and a fuller petticoat, but the same bra and body weight. I think you will agree with me that the fit is a lot better in the second one.

Nothing is new...

Recently I saw an ad for this bra.



And then I stumbled upon an ad from 1949 for a very similar one. I just love the colours and the little frill!

Lingerie

As you may have noticed, my list of clothes to get doesn't include underwear. That doesn't mean that this delicate subject isn't mentioned at all, the good book has a few things to say about it. To begin with it bemoan that Swedish women care less about their underwear compared to the rest of Scandinavia and should learn from them to use "bembergsiden", artificial silk or satin crepe instead of silk jersey. Corsets and bras should be well-fitting and don't compress the body too much. The best is a corselet, but make sure that it's long enough, otherwise it will pull down the shoulders and breasts! But if you were slim enough, a bra doesn't seem to have been a must. As I mentioned earlier my grandmother didn't use a bra until she was 33 and had had a baby. She was a very proper person, so she would never have done that if it hadn't been all right. Slips are not just to make sure that you can't see through a skirt in bright light, but also to give the clothes shape.

Greta

There is one person that is the biggest reason I started this blog. That I started sewing. That I started to have an interest in clothes. That person is my maternal grandmother, Greta. I have no intention to reflect my personal life in this blog, but my grandmother is such an essential person when it comes to developing my interests that I feel she has to be here. She was also the kind of woman who Alla kvinnors bok was written for, middle class with enough wealth for some luxuries, but still seeing the importance of mending and re-use. She was not an altogether easy person, she could be annoying and exhausting, but she was also wonderful in so many ways and I loved her very much. Now, seven years since she passed away, I find that the less good things are of no importance anymore. Just all the great things remains.