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Thong |
In
today’s society, women have it easy when it comes to fashion compared to women from
the 1800’s. When it’s cold, we have jeans and thick sweaters to keep us warm. Shorts
and tank tops keep us cool on hot summer days while capris and short-sleeved
shirts are perfect for a fall day. And when it comes to undergarments, design
and comfort have come a long way from what women used to wear.
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Chemise |
Before
the 1800’s, the only undergarments women wore were a knee-length linen chemise,
a corset, a petticoat or two depending on the season, and long skirts. During
the colder months, quilted petticoats and skirts made of heavier material were
worn to keep the lower part of the body warm. Knickers came into existence at
the end of the 18th century. Lighter fabrics of lawn and sheer silk
replaced the heavier materials and made it easier for women to cover their
lower region to keep warm. Knickers were two leg pieces laced together at the
waist and baggy to accommodate the split at the crotch. By the 1820’s, most women
were wearing this style of underwear, also known as pantalettes or pantaloons.
Women’s pantaloons were nude in color and reached to just below the knee or all
the way to the ankle. The bottom of each leg was trimmed in lace.
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Open crotch drawers caption |
Queen
Victoria often set the stage for what was fashionable. She favored knickers and
ensured they became a staple to every woman’s wardrobe, unless a woman was poor
and couldn’t afford the extra cost. By 1876, the two separate legs were merged
together and the crotch closed. Material used for knickers now included
flannel.
Around
1877, knickers shifted to a new look referred to as the combinations garment. The
combination was one piece consisting of a camisole top attached to drawers.
Popular materials for the combinations were linen, silk, merino, calico,
cambric or nainsook in flesh pink tones or cream colors. Later, knickers
underwent another change and became wide around the knee. The 1900’s brought
more changes such as the skirt knicker and the Directoire knicker which fit closer
to the body.
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The Directiore |
Changes
to outer garments brought about changes to undergarments. Just as shirts and
skirts were being fashioned from lighter materials, so were undergarments. In
the 1920’s, the name knickers was changed to panties, and again to panty briefs
in the 1930’s as knickers were shortened from the knee to just below the crotch.
Chemises eventually gave way to the bra, and each decade saw a new change to undergarments,
such as the pointed bra, the panty leg roll, nylon tricot briefs and the nylon
lace bouffant net petticoat of the 1960’s.
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Lace bouffant net petticoat |
Today women have a variety
of knickers to choose from; the bikini, the brief, and the thong. Cotton and lace
are some of the materials we enjoy, but whatever your preference, thank the
fashion industry for the simple, form-fitting, light weight knickers that cover
a small portion of the body instead of the entire leg down to the ankle. I
think I’d never come out of the air conditioning on a summer day if the 1820’s
knickers were still the rage of today.
1 comment:
The word knickers wasn't used until around 1880. They were called drawers until then and many still used the term drawers into the 1900s. The following is from Dictionary.com:Pantaloons, a man's close-fitting garment for the hips and legs, worn especially in the 19th century, but varying in form from period to period; trousers. The definition says nothing about women wearing them which surprised me.
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