dress woman fashion

he bras of the early 20s include home made ones in white cotton and which were little more than bust bodices with extra separation. Some purchased bras were like camisoles and they offered no support.

Big busted girls turned to bandaging their breasts flat, but many adopted the Symington Side Lacer, a bra that could be laced at both sides and pulled and pulled in to flatten the chest.

For young ladies with youthful figures a satisfactory bra was the four sectioned lace bandeau bra, lined in net. None of the bras gave much shape, but few ladies were seeking anything more than stopping the bust from wobbling. As long as they looked boyish they looked fashionable.

By the 1930s Triumph, Maidenform, Gossard, Warner Brothers, Spirella, Twilfit and Symingtons were all making bras that did the job of separating the breasts. At the same time it was finally acknowledged that women had differing cup sizes and bra sales doubled with the new designs.

Girdles and Underwear

Between 1920 and 1928 corset sales declined by two thirds, but it adapted to changing needs. Fast flappers refused to wear corsets and rolled their stockings to the knee to enable them to dance easily. Long Corsets produced the boyish figure, but instead of thick boned corsets many women preferred thin elastic webbing Lastex girdles that flattened the abdomen. Suspenders were attached to the girdles.

Underwear was minimal, sheer and lightweight. Women wore cami-bockers (directoire knickers and chemise) or cami-knickers or knickers and a petticoat. I have seen some searches for these as director knickers so let's be clear the term is directoire.

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