The history of sexy lingerie

It is well known that the female form varies a lot. History tells us that this has always been the case!

Through the ages, what was fashionable for the shape of the female body has gone from one extreme to the other. However, the charming female body has always been subject to what is happening and history shows us that it has been covered in different ways. In addition, different parts of the female form have been intensified, obscured, reduced, augmented by the style of the current fashionable ornaments.

We have witnessed unimaginable extremes, ranging from devices that have forced a small army to force the hapless fashion victim to be the loveliest, whimsical and fanciful. Let's take a look back in time on the evolution of  sexy lingerie   and its current evolution.

First, let's solve the terminology. Thanks to the loveliest language in the world, we now almost always call women's underwear as underwear - unless we are pejorative, in which case, depending on where you live, you can fill in the blanks!

When we (at least we, men, think of the world) think of lingerie, we think of a fragile material embellishing the female body so as to give us an idea of ​​the delights that are hidden below. But the 'first' lingerie, probably from one of the islands of ancient Greece, was very different. These captivating Greek women used a boned corset fitted around the belly, not to support or even for a slimming effect, but to attract their men by showing their breasts depressed in the most obvious way. Probably not what we would call lingerie today, but with about the same desired effect.

As time went on, the female form adopted new perfect forms depending on what was in it. As each perfect shape appeared, ornaments were designed and highlighted to embellish and accentuate that desired shape. The culture of the society dictated whether the breasts, the bottom or both would be highlighted and revered. You could say that nothing has changed much!

In medieval times, it was thought that the natural form of a woman should be narrowed and that the breasts should be firm and small. This situation was probably satisfactory for those built naturally in this way, but perhaps less well for those of a wider construction. Many kinds of corsets have been worn for the sole purpose of flattening the breasts and / or the bottom. It has been said that in order to draw attention to that part of the anatomy that was not to attract attention, some women wore ringing bells around their necks to remind men of the pleasures that still awaited them.

The modern corset is attributed to Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II of France. It imposed a prohibition of large size during court attendance in the 1550s and had a debatable effect on women for the next 350 years.

The Renaissance saw another change in the favorite female form. The women now had to have cone-shaped breasts, a flat stomach and a thin waist. In order to achieve this look, they also had to employ housekeepers or family members to dress them, as bending their corsets was done from behind and required a lot of effort.

Because of this unnatural method of acquiring perfection, doctors and other notaries explained that these corsets confine women's bodies so tightly that their internal organs were damaged and their ribs were permanently deformed. At that time, women often fainted or fell unconscious. This was generally attributed to their delicate nature but, in fact, it was simply because they had trouble breathing! There are many testimonies of women dying as a result of fatal punctures of vital organs due to this practice.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the whalebone corset always kept the women closely related, but the artistic talent that reflected the time was painstakingly incorporated into the clothes and the corsets were decorated with charming ribbons, lace and embroidery. Part of this relief lies in the fact that it has become fashionable that the breasts are pushed up to the point of almost going out.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the corset was worn by the bourgeois nobility, the nascent middle class and even by the nuns of the convents. He was often proudly displayed by his wearer because it was an outer garment visible at that time. In itself, it was an object of beauty and ornamentation and its display was part of social courtesy.

However, as people became more educated and aware, they began to question and criticize many things, including art, politics, and, you guessed it, things. Supported by professionals such as doctors, public opinion has become such that boned corsets have been banned in many countries.

In the early 19th century, a much softer approach to the female form became popular. The influence still required the support that the old corset had given, so it came back with more elaborate construction methods. Boning was still used in small sections, allowing a  more comfortable   and comfortable movement.

At the time, it was a more separate look for the breasts and a corset named after Mr. Leroy (who designed the wedding corset of Marie Luise of Austria when she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810) devised a model he called divorce , allegedly because of the separation involved. Perhaps the most important aspect of this situation is the fact that women were able to dress and undress themselves using more elaborate lacing methods.

During the 1840s, the extremely exaggerated shape  for women   made the whale bones return with enormous hoops and crinolines covered with all kinds of fabrics and ornaments. Unfortunately for women, the size was small enough for a man to lay his hands and the need to squeeze even harder the waist became the female nightmare of the day.

Shortly after, the hoops and crinolines were replaced by the soft S shape. This style always used the corset but added a stir on the back creating an exaggerated posterior. Once again, it is women who must suffer, who must stay up most of the time because of the heavy agitation of their hind legs. Obviously, men found it attractive because it gave them more opportunities to watch sexy women with their big crowds.

As we innovated in the design of objects, larger varieties of corsets were developed. During the morning, a woman could wear a boned boned corset for walks, an elastic corset for side riding, a boned corset for beach outings and a jersey corset to ride her penny. The corsetry industry was at its peak!

Towards the end of the 19th century, the brace supported not only breasts but also newly developed stockings. The stockings were held by garters and suspenders which were then attached to the corset. These devices, though triumphant in design, have probably added another frustrating dimension to the feminine conscious of the hour.

At the beginning of the 20th century, corsets were laced to the knee. But many people do not like this style and designers are moving towards a more casual and fluid style.  sexy lingerie   was going to take on a new dimension. With the advent of the industrial revolution and the introduction of the sewing machine, Germany and France opened the first corset factories.

In 1910, Mary Phelps Jacob, a socialite from New York, brought out a new type of bra. Dissatisfied with the corset reinforced with whale bones that she had to wear under a new evening gown, Mary worked with her maid to sew two silk handkerchiefs with a pink ribbon and rope. He was much sweeter and shorter than a corset and allowed the breasts to model themselves in their natural state.

Mary Phelps Jacob was the first person to patent a lingerie item called Brassiere, a name derived from the old French word meaning upper arm. Shortly thereafter, she sold the bra patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at a price of $ 1,500 (over $ 25,600 today).

In 1917, the US War Industries Council asked women not to buy corsets to free metal for the production of war material. This step released approximately 28,000 tonnes of metal, enough to build two battleships.

The success of the bra would be due largely to the Great War. The Great War changed gender roles forever, forcing many women to work in factories and wear uniforms for the first time. Women needed practical and comfortable underwear. Warner then collected more than $ 15 from the bra patent over the next thirty years.

Another thing to consider when the corset fell was that the Great War had had a negative impact on the number of men. It meant more competition to find a man, so women had to look sexier!

With the roaring twenties and its sophisticated parties, the thing had returned, the juvenile look was at the rendezvous. The pursuit of the flat chest and belly as well as the straight hips and buttocks led to the creation of Liberty bodice, shirt and bloomers that were loose and light. For the first time, pastel-colored underwear seemed to replace plain old-fashioned white. To improve the youthful appearance, the first bras were designed to flatten the breasts. What happened to the corset? The back part that held the stockings was shortened and became the garter belt.

The figured look came back in the 1930s. The feminine look is again the thing in. The women were encouraged to look well proportioned with a full figure while remaining quite thin at the hips. Now, women had a complete set of underwear to help the image: enhancing bras, elastic garter belts, not to mention the belt that kept all the curves in their place.

The 1930s also saw one of the greatest advances in the underwear industry when Dunlop Rubber developed Lastex, a two-way elastic stretch fabric, made from the thin thread of a modified rubber. chemically called Latex. This could be mixed with a fabric, which allowed the industry to make underwear in a variety of sizes to fit the woman's body.

The arrival of the Second World War and its shortages prevented Germany from importing the fabrics it used previously and its industry failed. Always inventive, people started making knitted underwear at home from raw materials by hand. Not the most sexy lingerie, but at least they stay warm.

After the war, underwear consisted of basic bras and garter belts. It was acceptable to many women, but the teenager, who had just emerged from the misery of the war years, became a target market. These young women were eager to become women and wearing lingerie was a fantastic step in achieving this goal. The German underwear industry has developed lingerie sets that have seduced these girls and the industry has never looked back.

In the United States, the underwear industry was trying to create something new and avant-garde. Women have been bombarded with all kinds of underwear and top quality clothes to make them sexy. The film producer Howard Hughes has developed a new bra, a special pattern with metal frame for Jane Russell. This provoked a temper tantrum among the censors, who explained that Miss Russell's breasts were blatant because of the incredibly innovative improvements made to Hughes' bra.

The 1960s were a bad decade for the underwear industry thanks to the rise of women's emancipation movements. Feminists burned their bras and many lingerie manufacturers were forced to close their doors. However, Lycra had just been developed and women started wearing tight leggings. However, the emblem of this decade was undoubtedly the sexy mini-skirt and demand in bikini briefs. Famous, for a little while in time, topless swimsuits and topless dresses were all the rage. But, unfortunately for most men and fortunately for the industry, it was just a flash-in-the-pan!

In the 1980s, the bra in metal frame became the best-selling number one. Although these are still very popular today, the push-up bra is currently the bestseller. Statistically, the average woman in the United States has six bras, one of which is a strapless bra and the other, a color other than white.

The modern feminine form varies and is not as sensitive to fashion trends as before. However, the charming sex will always look breathtaking in a sexy and tight lingerie!

So, we are there. From push-up corsets from ancient Greece to today's push-up bra. Sexy lingerie? Nothing really changes!