JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
From an 1850 satire on crinolines, this cartoon is a kind of x-ray. Women were a veritable fabric cake- the final , buttercream rose was one's dress perched atop layers of sponge and filling.
We wore a lot, under there. Found on Pinterest, I think this is from Frank Leslie's Monthly
Here's a myth busted. " Bloomers " is not the name of the garment first donned, one leg at a time, after stepping from one's bath. No sociological linguist, That came later and is like calling Mary Virginia Wade " Jennie ". It's just plain wrong but we're all so enchanted by it, can't blast ' bloomers ' from the vernacular.
Pantalettes, if you were so inclined ( and possibly, if these were silk and lace confections intended for the wealthy ) , " Drawers ", if one bought cotton. And yes, one did use the term " Unmentionables "; a little hysterical. You just mentioned them, using the word ' Unmentionable '.
We'll never know how Queen Victoria referred to what stood between she and chilly castle air, post bath. poor, dear thing. Not everyone has their underwear framed and on display. We do see ( and so sorry, Victoria ) the wealthy could prefer their pantalettes plain.
Short and cotton or linen, these are today's boxer shorts. for men. Guessing from her long, lonely years of widowhood.
Make no mistake. Prudish as rumor has it, our Victorians may not have yet devolved into 40 dollar scraps of polyester, string and lace. They sure liked ' pretty ' and commerce helped them achieve some corset designs which would launch a thousand eyebrows in 2017.
From the Met, a pair of very pretty unmentionables.
Knickerbockers , same as above but with knee bands, were born ( from various sources read online, please take it for what it is worth ) around the time crinolines and hoops manadated women's skirts flirted with disaster, should an upset occur. Here's something I did not know- Brits still refer to ' drawers ' as ' knickers ' ( knew that ). Did not know why.
Cannot tell if this Godey's illustration shows a banded knee? A LOT of Godey patterns came from Demorest's. a comprehensive fashion empire of the era.
We see hints, strong indications the feminine will to perhaps push limits of allure. Love some of these.
** My mouse fell, booting me off the forum, off-line and losing a ton of this thread. CONTINUED as soon as it can be fixed!
So. Drawers, chemise, several petticoats and gosh- corset. Godey's shows us little girls were stuffed into these.
HOLY gee whiz!
Then there's Mode Magazine, pushing limits. Whoa! Love it, knowing they all di but whoa!
Not to be outdone.... Mme Demorest
Supposedly a ' dressing gown ', no one can convince me this is not era lingerie.
Chemise- one layer, precorset, seems a big yawn, doesn't it? SO.
Layers-
er, Pantalettes ( no lace, we'll go with drawers ), south,
chemise, north.
Corset, north again,
crinoline, south.
petticoat, south.
petticoat, south.
And sometimes south again.
You're not even dressed yet and exhausted. Doesn't she look it?
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