Nostalgia

The weird and wonderful underwear trends women have endured over the years

Apr 27, 2018

Underwear has seen some pretty amazing trends over the years.

Underwear – it’s not something you can easily do without, unless you live in a naturist resort. So of course, humans have tried to make it more interesting, with plenty of experimentation along the way.

And if you’ve been involved in some of those weird and wonderful trends, they’re likely to remain a memory – for good or bad! – for a long time. Whether you remember your mother wrestling her way into a corset or girdle, or you had silk slips to match all your best dance dresses, or you’ve succumbed to the more recent suck-it-in allure of ‘control underwear’ such as Spanx, it’s not something you’re likely to forget quickly.

And while you’d think the garments that have the function to support, protect, and, well, cover, would remain pretty much unchanged, you’d be wrong. There’ve been corsets, bustles and structured bras that were practically bullet-proof, as well as barely-there garments such as teddies and baby-doll sets. Women have worn rib-crushing corsets, pointy brassieres, well-padded push-up bras, bloomers, thongs and even underwear as outwear, which was a active-wear trend best forgotten from the 1980s.

Which was your favourite of these underwear trends?

Bloomers won’t make the most popular list.

Bloomers were popular for years, but began to die out in the ’50s and ’60s. All the same, you may remember older relatives trying to push you into wearing them, particularly in your younger years. Designed as huge leg pieces to protect your modesty under floaty dresses, they could become hot and uncomfortable quickly – and it’s fair to say, they weren’t the most popular among teens.

However, they were distinctly more comfortable than another early fashion trend – again a staple among women’s wardrobes following the war, and right into the ’60s and ’70s – the corset.

Corsets were often very hot and uncomfortable.

With Marilyn Monroe the shapely pin-up to be emulated, the corset was, for many women, the cheat’s way to an hourglass figure. To achieve it, though, you’d have to squeeze into a whale-boned contraption designed to sculpt your torso into an unnatural small middle, with the added side-effect of suppressing your breathing.

From corsets came the girdle, a slightly – only slightly – more forgiving waist-trimming device. Whether you watched your mother pulling in her stomach every day with a tight undergarment, then attach her stockings, or you remember wearing one yourself, they were all the rage for decades.

The girdle was used to shape a woman’s body, but was often very uncomfortable.

It’s fair to say fashion was experimental at the time, and in the ’40s and ’50s there began a ‘bullet bra’ trend. The hard structure essentially meant women ended up with pointy, bullet shaped chests under their clothes. Madonna attempted to bring it back in the ’90s, wearing a designer bullet bra in her Blonde Ambition tour, but thankfully it didn’t stick.

Another bizarre trend was the blow-up bra, which actually came complete with a tube to blow air in to enhance your chest. Padding and air pockets are still popular today, but the do-it-yourself part seems to have all but disappeared.

The ’40s were an exciting time in bra land, because this is when the first push-up bra came into play – and while the famous bullet bras soon disappeared, along with the twin-set it was designed to flatter, push-ups certainly didn’t. Even now, they’re hugely popular with women attempting to defy gravity and make an impression – chest-first.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t all about the top half, and silky slips were all the rage too. While the fashion was changing, so were the undergarments, but this was an essential for decades. Women wore either full slips or half slips under their clothing to stop the fabric sticking too much and offending their modesty.

One trend that has almost survived the years is society’s love of stockings and now tights, their less sexy cousin. Giving legs a natural sheen, while offering a thin layer of protection against the elements, they were an elegant final touch to any outfit, albeit one that was prone to runs unless care was taken.

Stockings are still all the rage – they’ve just changed a lot with time.

It’s not all essentials though, and there have been some memorable additions to the lingerie scene in past years. In the ’50s, Secret Friend was introduced, which was basically a cushion strapped over your bottom and under your clothes to enhance your behind. An outsize bottom was fashionable long before Kim Kardashian entered the picture!

Elsewhere, baby-dolls dominated the ’60s and ’70s, with women loving frills, lace and girly tops as as pyjamas and casual wear. High-waisted knickers, dismissed as hopelessly unfashionable as g-strings ruled the stores during the ’90s, are now back, having first shot to popularity just a few decades ago. When it comes to underwear, as with most fashions, what’s old becomes new again – but let’s hope the girdle isn’t one of them!