Ever ask yourself, “where did lingerie come from?” Who started this trend of wearing skimpy, revealing under garments we call lingerie? First of all, the term lingerie was introduced into the English language as a way to describe scandalous underwear. The term became well known in the 1850’s as a way to describe the underclothing which reasons for wearing could span from practical to painful.
We could go back many centuries to Romans times to discover that under those togas wasn’t much of anything! Many of the women simply wore a piece of cloth to cover their breast, called a strophium.
Moving forward a bit to Medieval times the only reason to wear an under garment was to absorb a womens sweat and other body fluids. Nothing more than a functionally needed piece of clothing at that time. It was not a piece of clothing to reveal the softer time of a female.
Turning the corner to Renaissance times, started a change in the focus of the womens body. Women prided themselves in showing off their hourglass figures. To do so they were required to wear undergarment such as corsets to acentuate those curves in their body. Despite the size of the women, these corsets where designed to shrink the waistline to reveal their curves, but could come at a cost to their health. Many doctors apposed the use of wearing such tightly cinched corsets, that in extreme cases could cause a women to pass out! During the 18th century the added detail of lace, ribbon and other decorative details were added to corsets to show off the cleavage area of the body. After much contrevorsy and concern around how unhealthly corsets could be, they where redesigned to offer styles that where less contrictive.
A century later came the “lingerie revolution”. The bra was invented by Mary Phelps Jacob or rather named the brassiere which means “support” in French. Then came the stockings, which has evolved into many styles we have today, including the popular thigh hi’s. The bra evolved during WWI when many women where forced to work and needed better support along with lightweight fabrics to accomadate their industrial work conditions.
Shortly after the WWI the Roaring 20’s came and that ended the life cycle of the corset. It was a time for a more smooth and free of curves look. Women began wearing chemises, bodices, and bloomers to create that free flowing look. Something else that changed was the new option of color to undergarments!
In the 1940’s a new revolution to the bra came in America; the push-up bra was invented. Around that time in a tiny Manhattan loft, Frederick Mellinger started his own lingerie business. He soon moved to Hollywood and started a retail lingerie store called Frederick’s of Hollywood. For the first time lingerie was made for other reasons than practicality. This sexy new lingerie collection that Frederick created became popular among many of the Hollywood stars. This new found lingerie trend had only been seen with the Can-Can dancers at the Moulin Rouge, where seeing the undergarments was intentional.
The lingerie moment continued to move on even during the Women’s Liberation Moment in the 1960’s, where the bra was considered a restrictive from of clothing. And burning the bra was a way to symbolize women’s liberation.
Today the rainbow of colors and styles is unmeasurable. You can select from intimate pieces from high end designers such as Giorgio Armani, La Perla, and Flora. Or more reasonably priced lingerie from well known retail brands as Victoria Secrets, Intimissimmi and Fredrick’s of Hollywood. You can choose lingerie to be soft and feminine in style or as risqué as you like. Options of lace, color, ribbon, fabrics, seqiun, rhinestones or whatever your pleasure; you can get it today!
