Pre Twentieth Century

The first pieces of underwear can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, when it seems their use was widely functional. Women of Crete were and are known to have worn a simple corset that supported their breasts at the base and a very early prototype of the bra, known as a strophium, was in use in Roman times.

In the Middle Ages, members of the European nobility began to wear straightforward linen clothes under richly decorated and expensive outer dresses. This both protected these luxurious costumes from dirty bodies, and provided a layer of warmth for the wearer. Small, firm breasts were back in vogue, and women wore a multitude of corset-like variations. These early forms of the corset generally emerged in the fifteenth century. The rigid centrepiece, known as the basque, was often decoratively carved and enjoyed a trend as a lover's token.

The Elizabethan wide-hipped fashion of the sixteenth century popularised the farthingale, which focused attention on a woman's childbearing attributes, perhaps suggesting fertility. Toward the end of the Renaissance, the padded silhouette came into being, with a flat stomach and narrow waist. The style became greatly overstated during the seventeenth century when the frame achieved astonishing proportions, the corset became a near straitjacket, moulding women's bodies into abnormal shapes and used as an pretentious display of the rich, highly decorated dress fabrics of the day.

In the eighteenth century, although women ruled the elegant society of the salons, the corset still ruled their bodies, which attained an artistry never seen before in undergarments. Copious use of damask, satin, silk, embellished with embroidery, masked the rigid structure of whalebone within.

During the nineteenth century, the extent and style of underwear worn by women reached extremes, and women's figures were completely exaggerated: vast full sleeves, a miniscule corseted waist, followed by whalebone hoops and crinolines covered with yards of fabric, flounces and trims. The bustle highlighted women's bottoms, and frilled pantaloons and multiple layers of petticoats created full skirts. So unobtainable did the female body become beneath the layers of underwear that taking it off created its own form of sexual anticipation and spawned the first striptease shows.

The 1900's and the end of a Golden Age

When the twentieth century arrived, women were controlled in every feature of their lives, and not just by their corsets. Much of the underwear of the time was made from fine silks, lace and delicate fabrics that were easily damaged and required considerable laundering, starching and ironing. Most petticoats had splendidly frilled edges and just a glimpse of an ankle was an enticing sight in the 1900s.

Women continued to wear corsets but the tide of public opinion was turning against them. Under the tightly laced corset would have been a chemise, while over the top, un-seamed drawer  were worn which stretched to the knee. A camisole and as many as six layers of petticoats were worn over the corset too, while stockings and garters were also fastened to it.

The popular hourglass figure of the time was achieved by whalebones not only at the waist, but vertically pushing the chest forwards, the posterior back and tiny bones ensured that the chin was thrust forward, all adding up to the grotesque and fashionable S-bend silhouette and epitomised by the S-bend corset.

In 1907, French couturier Paul Poiret revolutionised both outerwear and underwear by presenting a more natural contour to clothes, and freeing women from the now ferocious tyranny of the corset.

It was the beginning of modern fashion.

A New Era and a New Look

In 1910, on both sides of the Atlantic, there was an atmosphere of optimism, wealth, and peace. However, a revolution in the way that women thought of themselves was just around the corner as well as the so-called Great War.

Women discarded the corset from 1915 onwards; one of the causes was the tango dance craze, which swept through the Americas and Europe. However, World War 1 sounded the death knell for old-fashioned corsets and women never reverted to the contradictory constrictions of corsets and the excesses of petticoats.

In 1913 the brassiere made its first appearance, supposedly, when a young girl called Mary Phelps Jacobs invented a new type of bra. She lost out though because being 14 and sweetly naive, she sold the patent to Warners for just $1500 and the rest is history.

Who exactly invented the bra is a matter of debate, however by 1916 a British magazine was remarking, "French and American women all wear them and so must we". Many of the brassieres, beautifully made from silk and fine cotton, were delicately trimmed and embroidered.

After WWI, fashion started on its journey to androgyny and youthful ideal, and there was another entirely new phenomenon, which was to propel this notion - Hollywood.

The Roaring Twenties

At the birth of the 1920s, many people were single-minded to forget the deprivations of the war, and as the Roaring Twenties swept in, the 1920s became an era of excesses.

A younger social set, soon became branded as "bright young things," and dressed in a style that was deliberately decadent, exciting, and provocative. These voting, smoking, drinking, driving young things showed off the tops of their stockings to the beat of the Charleston.

Glamour was in, and it could be bought, with the recently acquired wealth of the new social mobility. The leg was revealed for the first time in fashion history, and although early bras were not sized efficiently, they struck a chord with the hunger for everything modern and the emancipated young woman of the 20s.

Flat chest and long, slender body was the ideal body shape, and the once flattering corset, developed into the more discreet item, of the shorter and more pliable girdle. Tight bandaging and flappers were also both popular, and yet despite the boyishness of the "flappers," women wore indulgent and quintessentially feminine garments under the streamlined, androgynous outer dress of the twenties.

Hollywood Glamour & The Depression

In the 1930s, the stars of Hollywood dictated the body shape. The escapism that Hollywood offered drew huge audiences and many women and men were captivated by a new generation of sex idols, such as Marlene Dietrich and Jean Harlow.

The bosom was captivatingly emphasised by Hollywood with careful fitting over the bust together with the appearance of the bare back. The strict 'Hays code' prohibited any candid show of cleavage, so 'glamour' was defined by tight fitting satin and silk evening clothes, and eroticism camouflaged by the dashing dance routines of the time.

Slinky fabrics such as crepe de chine, which clung to the body, created the sinuous lines of the day. Bias cutting appeared and the long silhouette that it fashioned ran over hips and waist, and separated the breasts. The bust was back in fashion and bras with fitted cups were developed for the first time.

A new style of lingerie was crucial to complement this graceful, sensuous figure, and much incorporated the new man-made fibres, such as rayon. Ornamentation in lingerie was kept to a minimum to maintain the smooth line. Technology continued to affect women's lingerieand Dunlop invented a combination of latex rubber and ammonia that they called Lastex, an elasticised yarn, finer than, any had ever achieved.

In 1939, the world was plunged back into crisis with the outbreak of World War II just as a very new style was shown at the Paris Spring collections.

The Age of Austerity

The shock of the outbreak of World War II was incalculable. Almost overnight, glamour disappeared in Europe.

Materials were in scarce supply, and only the most basic fabrics were easily available. Women in military uniform promoted the hourglass silhouette, and with the bust accentuated, shorter hemlines fell to just above the knee. Inevitably, this drew attention to the legs and as nylons were in short supply, some women resorted to drawing a seam down the back of their legs with eyeliner.

British and American governments backtracked on initial decisions and allowed women bras and lipsticks to raise morale and women tended to have sleeker figures.

The US did not experience extreme wartime rationing and for the first time the US lingerie manufacturers, outstripped its European competitors.

Fabric restrictions were lifted in the U.S. in 1946, and the tiny waist, fashionable "New Look" of 1947 by Christian Dior, was relatively short lived; although women strove to imitate the look with the tiny waist and full skirts, they were not prepared to wear the waist-reducing cinchers, which were required to create the essential hourglass figure. In addition, many European women could not afford the vast amount of material required for the full skirts.

Nevertheless, the desire to leave behind the utility and austerity of the war years prevailed and Hollywood continued to assert its influence on fashion throughout the world.

Rock and Roll

By the early 1950s rock n' roll had swept the world, its followers dressed in full skirts and petticoats that had their origins in Christian Dior's New Look of the late forties.

Bras and girdles exaggerated the feminine form and to achieve this new look girdles were extended over the waist, almost to the bra line. Bras had never been so elaborate or promised so much. The sweater girls had had their own 'whirlpool' stitched bras and the 'living bra' of the 50s was all womanly flesh. However it was Jane Russell's ''Cantilever'" bra, designed by Howard Hughes, which drew the most attention, when she wore it in the film The Outlaws in 1957.

Lingerie manufacturers began to launch their own brand names to build customer loyalty. For example Warner developed the "Merry Widow", a combination of an elasticised satin girdle and wired bra, designed to go beneath evening wear.

Despite the shape and tension of the bras, a popular selling point was that; they were so comfortable you forgot you were wearing it and so beautifully made, it would be a disservice to hide them. (Models at the time were frequently pictured in their underwear in the street)

The teenage revolution had started, and with a more casual lifestyle on the horizon, casual clothes, and the lingerie to accompany them were not far away.

The Age of Aquarius

The 60s just like the 20s brought back the young androgynous figure. It was a decade of great contrasts. Young women dressed differently from their mothers for the first time, and established their own style for clothing and accessories. To be youthful was a major trend and woe betide those who were too old or too prudish to abandon the trappings of 50s - the structured bra, girdle, stockings, and suspenders were gone.

Fashion boutiques sprang up catering mainly for the young. Much of the predominant style was set in London, where Mary Quant designed colourful, playful clothes including the miniskirt, which became a fashion feature of the decade.

In 1963, the contraceptive pill was launched, and almost in chorus, fashion focused on the bottom as an erogenous zone. Shapes in lingerie changed radically. The growing choices in man-made fibres revolutionised underwear and the emergence Lycra products popularised the bodystocking and brightly coloured sets of underwear.

As feminists set fire to their bras, the fashion for going braless would result in many lingerie manufacturers going bust. However, the pendulum would soon swing back, helped in large, by those women whose breasts were simply too big to be comfortable without a bra.

Bare legs and bare chests denoted one of the biggest changes in lingerie history and by the end of the 1960s; jeans were the uniform of the young, worn over skimpy briefs and with little else underneath.
 

Disco Fever

The rebelliousness of the 1960s developed into a new awareness in the 1970s. A myriad of influences inspired fashion early in the decade, from a fascination in peasant dress to an appreciation for the environment, and a wish for a caring natural look.

The desire for a "natural look" affected lingerie trends as topless sunbathing became vogue in Europe and "braless ness" in general threatened the industry. The 'no bra bra' was launched in response to the fact that the bra was still seen as a symbol of female repression.

In the US, some women picketed the lingerie store Frederick's of Hollywood, whose founder responded by making a statement that '"the law of gravity will win out". It was an outstanding publicity coup and bra sales soared.

The lingerie industry was fast to adopt the fabric developments and technical innovations seen in the 1970s. As the disco dance and fitness craze took over, dancewear such as leotards and tights crossed over into outerwear.

By the end of the decade, cleavage was making a return and slinky Janet Reger smalls and the Wonderbra took over the heat-moulded bra. The new-formed bras gave a seam-free flawlessly fitting shape, which removed any the visible lines under the tight fitting clothes of the time.

It was the revival that the lingerie industry desperately needed.

Power Dressing & Designer Labels

By the 1980s, a rounded breast and the padded bosom were back with a bang, and wired bras became a top sales item. The fitness craze continued, and the well-cut and contoured bra essentially grew from the sportswear worn in fitness and health clubs of the eighties.

Power dressing popularised by the television series Dallas heralded the trend towards designer wear. Professional women wore stylish miniskirts with high-heeled shoes and rigorously tailored jackets together with the now famously padded shoulder. Underneath women wore silky camisoles and lacy bras.

Retailers such as Chantelle and Passionata grew in prominence, as women demanded a softer styling and sensuality returned, bringing back a basques revival together with its matching briefs and stockings. Women at this time longed to wear something lacy and luxurious underneath their outerwear.

Avant-garde designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier started to play with the concept of underwear as outerwear, where corsetry and bras were utilized as fashionable outerwear, inspired by the punk street fashions of the late seventies. The publicity and exposure that ensued guaranteed that the corset was to make a comeback in the 1990s.

"Hello Boys"

The centre of interest in lingerie during the 1990s was without doubt the bust. It was the decade of the supermodels and the contradiction between slim almost anorexic bodies and the well-endowed bosom.

Lingerie companies responded to the needs to those with a larger bust, with a new line of "second skin" underwear in flesh colours, designed to expose and camouflage the breast at once.

A trend developed for slip dresses, made of satin and lace, and indicated the revival of the petticoat, but as with the corset, no longer were these slips to be hidden under layers of our outer clothing.

Vivienne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier as well as many others continued to use the traditional corset as a source of inspiration for their haute couture designs and a sexual "look-but-don't-touch" fashion asserted itself

A New Century

As a new century begins and another century passes, few could have imagined the huge and dramatic change in lingerie.

Within a hundred years, the function, shape, and fabrics of lingerie have changed almost beyond recognition. The impact of Lycra in lingerie is unprecedented.

Today there are dazzling array of underwear styles to suit everyone's taste. It is fun, sexy, raunchy, sophisticated or just plain.

It is too early to tell what the next one hundred years will bring but if you would like a sneak preview of next year's trend take a look at Louise's Boutique Website Collections.