Glory Days Issue Three - All Shook Up

is New Again!

Other screen actresses may have had killer curves, but chances are their curves were killing them until they took their girdles off ! So much smoke and mirrors... Now I’m back flicking through my old magazines. And it seems, the only thing that outnumbers slimming ads, is body shaping ads.

From creams promising to increase your bust to innovative latex shapewear, women in the 50’s were all about the fast track to beauty. And you know what? They were prepared to go all the way, and to hell with comfort! Today, comfort is king. And just look what he has done to our bodies! Lycra is everywhere, but has little power compared to the medical-grade bandage used in vintage girdles.

If today comfort is king, in the 50s sacrifice was queen. She demanded much from women, and most opened their alligator purses to pay their respects.

For sacrificing comfort promised such wonderful rewards. Ten years younger, flatter here, curvier there - you will feel better than you could ever imagine.

So why wouldn’t you? Why today do we not want to sacrifice comfort for beauty? Surely in today’s world it’s a fair trade?

Well the proof is all around you, walking to work, in shopping malls, bars and gyms. It seems today we would rather drag it out and pay top dollar, or not try at all. Comfort trumps sacrifice. Marketing has phased out the quick fix in order to extract more money from us; whether it’s by selling us long-term gym memberships, healthy eating and mediocre underwear that merely attempts to smooth us out rather than lace us in. Today we’re told there’s no quick fix. But in the 50s before you went out, all you had to do was down a few pills, pour yourself into your girdle - and feel like a million bucks. All for a little sacrifice!

So next time you hear someone order a herbal tea to wash down their “supplements” and a glutenfree, macrobiotic salad after they’ve come back from their bikram yoga class, exposing their Spanx when they bend over to get their purse from their gym bag - have a giggle. Cause the women of the 50s did it first, faster, from home and with their femininity intact!

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