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| Annabelle Collett | |||||
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We lift the skirts on fashion and look back at the changing styles and forms of underwear worn by Australian women through the ages. The revolution from corsets to thongs not only reflects a dramatic change in fashion, it’s also a barometer of social change in Australia.
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| With their amazing corsetry they could shrink their waists down to 14 inches. It was said that some women had their ribs removed so the waist could get even smaller. | | | ||
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| Corset | | | ||
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| Fashions then changed radically, because they had to invent all new things to wear underneath very short, very flimsy dresses. | | | ||
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GEORGE NEGUS: For our final report we go undercover, as it were. You'll get what I mean in a tick. If you find this piece a bit tortuous, a bit restricting, don't panic - so did I.
ONSCREEN: 'The Tortured History of Women's Underwear.'
HELEN HUGHES, CURATOR, NATIONAL COSTUME MUSEUM: It didn't matter what it did to your body. That was just incidental. It was the fashion that was the important thing. In the crinoline period, which went from about the late 1840s to...and finished in about 1870, near the 1870s, the order of dressing was that they would have a chemise and over top of that would go the corsets, and over top of that would go the split drawers, and then the crinoline, and then a corset cover, and over that would go a pretty petticoat...some pieces in between... crinoline skirt...and then over top of the bodice would go their corset...their heavily boned bodice. After the trouble they had getting through doorways, and the right chairs to sit on with these huge crinolines...they decided that too much material in the front was dangerous. It was catching fire if they were near an open fire. So they took all the material from the front and made it quite flat in the front, and then just drew it together at the back, and thus created the
bustle.
ANNABELLE COLLETT, TEXTILE ARTIST: 100 years ago, women's shape was different. I mean, they had much narrower shoulders, much narrower shi...uh, waists, and slender hips. Um, but I think that type of woman probably didn't do much work physically. To wear these corsets you needed a chambermaid to help you dress. So, it always defined the elite, because they could afford all these things. With their amazing corsetry they could shrink their waists down to 14 inches. It was said that some women had their ribs removed so the waist could get even smaller.
HELEN HUGHES: Legs were not mentioned. They became limbs, so you covered up everything that was at all exciting or tempting. Then, of course, war came, and that was a definite change in the fashions, because women had to fill in at home with the work and everything else, and they couldn't work with long, dragging dresses around their ankles and stiff, heavy corsets on. And they had to be able to move.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: After the war, during the '20s, they had this freedom, this newfound freedom, and thought, "Yeah, well, we'll continue this," and it reflected in their social ways as well.
HELEN HUGHES: Fashions then changed radically, because they had to invent all new things to wear underneath very short, very flimsy dresses. One day, a lady came to me and told me she'd been a model in London in 1936, and "the only way we could show the dresses to any advantage "was not to wear a thing underneath." And she said sometimes in the beginning they were so cold they could hardly move when they'd finished. But she said, "We've worked that one out." She said, "We got a baby's bottle...er, water bottle," and put it between their knees, and stood there with knees clamped and with, you know, an innocent smile on their face. She said, "That was the only way we could keep warm."
(Frank Sinatra sings) # In olden days a glimpse of stocking # Was looked on as something shocking # Now, heaven knows # Anything goes... #
ANNABELLE COLLETT: After the war there were a lot of changes. It was about abundance and consumerism. I mean, everyone could buy...you could buy whatever you wanted, and I think that expressed itself in...in the style of the day.
HELEN HUGHES: Lace was worn, and the bras became noticeable. And then, Jane Russell was about the same period.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: Howard Hughes was an aeroplane designer and a film producer. He had a lot of trouble with Jane when he was filming 'The Outlaw'. He decided to put underwire under the bra because everything she was wearing, she was either constricting her chest with the bra that was available of the day, or there was no bra, so her breasts were moving a lot, and wobbly breasts wasn't a good look, you know?
MAN ON ARCHIVE: Women are in the grip of a new undergarment revolution called 'Grippies'.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: The technicological progresses in fabric helped liberate women from these very constricting garments - with the invention of lycra, where elastic could be woven through all fabrics, like lace and cotton and silk. So it really gave fabric a lot of movement. So it made those garments a lot more comfortable. The '80s and '90s, the round chest came back, and, er, designers started exploring things that were normally regarded as taboo, like wearing the outer...wearing the innerwear on the outer side. So, you get the resurgence of the corset these days. The wonderful thing about lingerie is that when you are in your underwear, are you in a stage of dress or undress?
GEORGE NEGUS: What a good question. Women don't still struggle into those things today, surely? Now I know what all that feminist bra-burning was all about. That's it for tonight - a potted history of Australian women as told by their smalls.
ONSCREEN: 'The Tortured History of Women's Underwear.'
HELEN HUGHES, CURATOR, NATIONAL COSTUME MUSEUM: It didn't matter what it did to your body. That was just incidental. It was the fashion that was the important thing. In the crinoline period, which went from about the late 1840s to...and finished in about 1870, near the 1870s, the order of dressing was that they would have a chemise and over top of that would go the corsets, and over top of that would go the split drawers, and then the crinoline, and then a corset cover, and over that would go a pretty petticoat...some pieces in between... crinoline skirt...and then over top of the bodice would go their corset...their heavily boned bodice. After the trouble they had getting through doorways, and the right chairs to sit on with these huge crinolines...they decided that too much material in the front was dangerous. It was catching fire if they were near an open fire. So they took all the material from the front and made it quite flat in the front, and then just drew it together at the back, and thus created the
bustle.
ANNABELLE COLLETT, TEXTILE ARTIST: 100 years ago, women's shape was different. I mean, they had much narrower shoulders, much narrower shi...uh, waists, and slender hips. Um, but I think that type of woman probably didn't do much work physically. To wear these corsets you needed a chambermaid to help you dress. So, it always defined the elite, because they could afford all these things. With their amazing corsetry they could shrink their waists down to 14 inches. It was said that some women had their ribs removed so the waist could get even smaller.
HELEN HUGHES: Legs were not mentioned. They became limbs, so you covered up everything that was at all exciting or tempting. Then, of course, war came, and that was a definite change in the fashions, because women had to fill in at home with the work and everything else, and they couldn't work with long, dragging dresses around their ankles and stiff, heavy corsets on. And they had to be able to move.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: After the war, during the '20s, they had this freedom, this newfound freedom, and thought, "Yeah, well, we'll continue this," and it reflected in their social ways as well.
HELEN HUGHES: Fashions then changed radically, because they had to invent all new things to wear underneath very short, very flimsy dresses. One day, a lady came to me and told me she'd been a model in London in 1936, and "the only way we could show the dresses to any advantage "was not to wear a thing underneath." And she said sometimes in the beginning they were so cold they could hardly move when they'd finished. But she said, "We've worked that one out." She said, "We got a baby's bottle...er, water bottle," and put it between their knees, and stood there with knees clamped and with, you know, an innocent smile on their face. She said, "That was the only way we could keep warm."
(Frank Sinatra sings) # In olden days a glimpse of stocking # Was looked on as something shocking # Now, heaven knows # Anything goes... #
ANNABELLE COLLETT: After the war there were a lot of changes. It was about abundance and consumerism. I mean, everyone could buy...you could buy whatever you wanted, and I think that expressed itself in...in the style of the day.
HELEN HUGHES: Lace was worn, and the bras became noticeable. And then, Jane Russell was about the same period.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: Howard Hughes was an aeroplane designer and a film producer. He had a lot of trouble with Jane when he was filming 'The Outlaw'. He decided to put underwire under the bra because everything she was wearing, she was either constricting her chest with the bra that was available of the day, or there was no bra, so her breasts were moving a lot, and wobbly breasts wasn't a good look, you know?
MAN ON ARCHIVE: Women are in the grip of a new undergarment revolution called 'Grippies'.
ANNABELLE COLLETT: The technicological progresses in fabric helped liberate women from these very constricting garments - with the invention of lycra, where elastic could be woven through all fabrics, like lace and cotton and silk. So it really gave fabric a lot of movement. So it made those garments a lot more comfortable. The '80s and '90s, the round chest came back, and, er, designers started exploring things that were normally regarded as taboo, like wearing the outer...wearing the innerwear on the outer side. So, you get the resurgence of the corset these days. The wonderful thing about lingerie is that when you are in your underwear, are you in a stage of dress or undress?
GEORGE NEGUS: What a good question. Women don't still struggle into those things today, surely? Now I know what all that feminist bra-burning was all about. That's it for tonight - a potted history of Australian women as told by their smalls.