The Origin of Lingerie

From the beautiful Etti sets, to the saucy Morgana collection. Playful Promises autumn/winter lingerie is the epitome of modern lingerie, but just how did the wonderful world of lingerie come about?

There is no exact date as to when the fashion of wearing lingerie came about, but the first sources of evidence point towards Ancient Egypt, almost 3000 years BC. For such a hot country clothing was not a necessity or a commodity.

Items of clothing were status symbols, something only the wealthy members of society would wear. Very often people would be happy to be naked or to wear a loin cloth and no more. Terra-cotta pots illustrate the fashions of the period giving us an insight into lingerie and more.

The first example of undergarments was worn by Egyptian women, of high-ranks. This would have been a long tunic woven from fine cottons and linens. The tunic would have started around the chest and flowed down to the ankles. It would have been tied around the body and shoulders using straps and was even sometimes used to mould the waist creating hour-glass figures.

From the dawn of lingerie, garments were worn to suppress or accentuate curves, the modern day bra was established as far back as 3000BC. When Egyptians were wearing tunics, Babylonian women were wearing what could be described as briefs and bras.  Most likely derived from the loin cloth and from suppressing women's breasts by wrapping cloth around the chest, this is the earliest evidence of lingerie.

And Cretan women were wearing hip corsets pushing their breasts upwards and outwards around 3000BC. This is surprising to know that the corset was in fact first worn on women, as many people believe men were first to wear the corset, and over 5000 years ago making this a very old fashion trend.

 

From these early depictions of wearing lingerie there was not much progression in what women wore. The 1500's saw the popularity in the corset increase, and from this period it became an integral piece of lingerie in everyday attire.

Today we still enjoy wearing corsets, some women still use corsets to shape their figure, but mostly corsets are a fun piece of outwear for a little boudoir fun. Playful Promises make their corsets and waspies from steel boning ensuring a rigid and tight shape is sculpted for maximum ooh-la-la.

Various bodices, bras and briefs were fashioned to wear underneath the corset, helping push-up busts, mould waist-lines and more.

The real revolution in lingerie happened around the 1920's where women decided to liberate themselves from the repressive corsets opting for girdles or less. This is where the lingerie revolution becomes interesting and where Playful Promises can base their inspiration and continue to create beautiful lines of underwear shaping figures and lifestyles.

The Original Pin-up

The original pin-up girl, the Gibson Girl, started as a pen-and-ink illustration by Charles Dana Gibson in the late 1800's. His sketch was the personification of the ideal female and was transformed from one illustration into illustrated stories. The Gibson Girl lasted over 20 years, beloved by her American public, she defines the history of fashion particularly for that era.

 

Her alluring S-curve figure, exaggerated breasts and hips and a slim waist, was achieved through a swan-bill corset. The Swan Bill Corset was fashionable around 1900 and was described as the 'health corset'. The corset busk was inserted in the centre front of the corset pushing the torso of the wearer forward and allowing hips and buttock to protrude out, giving an 'S-shape'.

The Gibson Girls's striking figure inspired a new fashion for the late 19th Century. Even her hairstyle became a popular trend, piling her strands of hair high on top of her head in a chignon. Much like today's trend.

 

Camille Clifford

The Gibson Girl was drawn from life models posing, such as Gibson's wife Irene and Evelyn Nesbit an artist's model, however Camille Clifford was rumoured to have inspired the Gibson Girl's fashion and figure. Camille Clifford was known for wearing a high coiffure and wearing a waspie to create her signature hourglass figure.

The Gibson Girl was depicted as a modern and independent woman, attending college and waiting to find the correct man to marry. The Gibson Girl was not just a pin-up teasing and pleasing men, she was a heroine amongst women, she inspired women's fashions and inspired a modern way of life.

 

In later years, towards the First World War, the Gibson Girl was not included in the suffrage movement, she was slowly beginning to loose favor amongst suffragettes and by the onset of the First World War popularity for this imaginary character had fallen.

Women seeked a more practical and masculine icon to guide them through the First World War and with this women seeked a change in fashions and lifestyle.

During the Second World War, the Pin-up girl made a come-back. Real-life Pin-up girls as well as illustrations and artwork. Celebrities and models posed to encourage the troops. The earliest Pin-up is said to be Betty Garble.

A pin-up girl would feature on mass produced pictures which were 'pinned-up' and displayed as part of 1940's and 50's popular culture. The Pin-up image could be torn out of newspapers and magazines and were in the form of postcards and more memrobilia.

In later years glamour models became what was a Pin-up girl, models such as Betty Page were the modern day Pin-up.

We now enjoy retro-Pin-up girls, we are inspired by Pin-up models as well as now using male models as Pin-up boys!