MARY EVANS
PICTURE LIBRARY
Issue 5, May 2011
Published by the Mary Evans Picture Library 59 Tranquil Vale, London SE3 0BS T: 020 8318 0034 www.maryevans.com E: pictures@maryevans.com
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A Brief History of Underwear
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Raiders of the Lost Archaeology
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It’s a Jolly Holiday!
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Suffragettes on the Road to Democracy
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Shadow Play
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The Grand 2012 Anniversaries Quiz
Nameplate image ClassicStock/Mary Evans
A Brief History of
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Legend has it that the corset as we know it – the type that shrinks a woman's waist to doll-like proportions with the aid of whalebone, lacing and no small amount of discomfort – was f irst introduced by Catherine de Medici during the 16th century. She decreed that any of her ladies with a waist wider than 13 inches would not be welcome at the French court. Rather than face banishment, they breathed in, visited a stay-maker and politely said, 'Non,
merci' to proffered sweetmeats. After the medieval fashion for rounded, feminine stomachs, suddenly, the tummy was tucked away and the waist accentuated, a trend that endured, save for a short breather (literally) during the Empire line fashions of the Regency era, until the First World War. Over the centuries, corsets or 'stays' changed along with the vagaries of fashion from the sharp, flat-fronted bodices of the Tudor period to the wasp-waisted fetish of the Victorian era (as exemplif ied by the lissom Princess of Wales) and the exaggerated S-bend shape of the early 20th century. The wealthier the wearer, the more restricted she was likely to be, but mobility was only necessary for those who had to work for a living and as Georgiana, the famous Duchess of Devonshire confessed, although she was pinched and sore, the soothing quality of admiration made it bearable. Corsetry was not limited to the female market either with dandies of the 18th century particularly fond of the garment's f igure-transforming qualities. In 1834, the increasingly plump Prince Regent was told his stays would be the death of him if he continued to wear them.
Mary Evans Picture Library (image 10039008)
he first publicity slogan for underwear appeared in the window of a London corset-maker during the 18th century, promoting the eff icacious results bestowed by her latest model of corset claiming it, 'controls the large, supports the small, uplifts the drooping.' Almost three centuries on, a quick stroll around the lingerie section of M&S suggests that we all still want pretty much the same results from our foundation wear, although admittedly, a medieval or even 18th century drapers would not have sold many pairs of knickers. Most people simply didn't see the point of wearing them.