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When Mary told me she was going to write about ‘shapewear’ this week it immediately triggered many wonderful memories of when I was younger.
I had a lovely grandma who lived close to us after we moved into the city of Leicester when I was in my teens and I always loved staying with her when my mother and father went away. Grannie was not very tall and was of ample proportions – probably because she was a wonderful cook - but always dressed smartly and always looked beautiful. I remember she had terrible feet with hammer toes that crossed over each other and, looking back, I think she must have suffered with arthritis because she never walked far. (I guess I have inherited the ‘bad feet’ gene!)
It was in Grannie’s corner cupboard in her living room that she kept her corsets. I think she preferred to get dressed in front of the fire as this was well before the days of central heating. I was always fascinated at the intricacies of such a garment. It had bones and endless laces at the back and the front which obviously held Grannie’s body into a firm stranglehold ensuring that no flab was ever going to escape or be visible through her lovely dresses. I remember her saying ‘nobody ever sees me getting dressed!’ which I presumed meant that she felt self-conscious about her body.
As time progressed the heavy-duty corsets progressed to a more commercial and manageable garment called a girdle. By the 1960s wearing a ‘roll-on’ – which is what we all called it - was commonplace. A roll-on was basically an elasticated girdle that held our body in and stopped it wobbling. With Twiggy hitting the fashion scene we all wanted to look slimmer and trimmer, and a roll-on supposedly helped! But it didn’t work for me because my excess fat just squeezed out of the top of the garment, increasing my waist, and also down to my legs, making my thighs fatter! Worse still was the ‘panty-girdle’! Indeed, it made the line over my bottom smoother and my thighs slimmer, but sadly, I then had very fat knees!
When it became apparent that we shouldn’t be wearing girdles at all because they made our stomach muscles lazy, off it went and, to be honest, I was glad to be free of the strangulating corsetry. Then I learned the revelation that exercise burned fat and toned up our body so I decided that was a far healthier way forward.
It was in 2006 that a new trend was launched when, following their meteoric rise to fame with their hard hitting style TV programme, What Not To Wear, Trinny and Suzannah launched their own range of undergarments. "Trinny and Susannah Magic Knickers" were made of nylon and designed to flatten the tummy, buttocks and thighs so they appeared slimmer and compact. Suddenly firming underwear came back into fashion and for a special occasion I decided to treat myself, but when I tried it on under my posh dress, it actually had the opposite effect and made me look bigger. It ended up never being worn and being donated to a charity shop!
Sadly, none of us, not even top models, are happy with our body. We can ALL find bits we wish were slimmer, flatter, bigger or firmer, but the fact is we are all wonderfully different. That’s what makes us special – it’s what makes us unique! Our genes determine some of our characteristics such as height and body type, and our lifestyle determines our weight and fitness. Some illnesses and diseases are inherited but not all of them so what we can aim for is to do everything possible to keep our own body working to the best of its ability. Nobody else can do it for us and if we have a bigger backside than we would like, so what!
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Playtex is noted for a focusing on particularly comfortable girdles. Remember the 1974 TV advertisement for the 18 hour girdle? It had a lady walking up the steps of a plane with her husband, obviously enjoying their jet-setting life. She stopped in horror saying she couldn't fly because she'd forgotten her girdle - only to remember she had it on!
