 The underwear situation in the Natural Form Era was.... complicated! Ladies had an outfit for every situation and time of day, and underwear to go with it. To further add confusion, the "Dress Reform" movement was at its height: its main focus was on changing corsets and what was worn underneath them, all in the name of health. So what did women wear under their dresses? It all depends on a variety of factors. I'll walk you through all the different layer options starting from the skin out, with variations in necklines and politics. Next month I'll complete the layers and show you how to combine them. Bonus DPP article from YWU  Some underwear is easy to date by the cut or the decoration, other items are almost timeless. This month I share with you a knitted silk undervest with a crocheted yoke that could date anywhere from 1880 to 1910. The eBay seller I purchased it from described it as a "vintage tank top", but ladies in the Victorian and Edwardian age would have recognized it as a vest or an undervest.  My corset to share with you this month is a drab coutil corset. (The word "drab" refers to its colour, rather than inferring that it’s a boring corset!) It uses machine corded fabric instead of bones to stiffen the panels into an impressively curvaceous shape. It also has a sturdy spoon shaped busk. There is no maker's mark inside it, but it has clearly been created by a professional corsetiere.  Naturally I noticed the vintage corset lying in the antique store, but since extant pieces are usually cut for Scarlett O’Hara, I passed it by. A few minutes later, my companion was brandishing it about. “I think this would fit you,” she exclaimed. It had to be late 1880s... she held it up to me, and she was right. Even over a t-shirt, it was clearly a perfect fit. Danine looks in detail at this extraordinarily lucky find, and then makes us a pattern. Naturally I noticed the vintage corset lying in the antique store, but since extant pieces are usually cut for Scarlett O’Hara, I passed it by. A few minutes later, my companion was brandishing it about. “I think this would fit you,” she exclaimed. It had to be late 1880s... she held it up to me, and she was right. Even over a t-shirt, it was clearly a perfect fit. Danine looks in detail at this extraordinarily lucky find, and then makes us a pattern. |