The evolution of modern western female underwear

張芮嘉

【Abstract】As a special dress， female underwear plays an important role in the history of western dress development. Different periods of humanistic background， aesthetic concept and dress habits affects the shape， fabric and color of female underwear. This paper gives an analysis of western womens underwear in the modern times.

【Key words】Western； Female； Underwear； Evolution； Modern

Western female underwear developed fast in the modern times. During its development over the years， it has shown the progressive liberation of the female body as well as her position in patriarchal western society.

In 1822， the womens waistline began to decline from the high waist position， and reached the normal position until l830. The waistline of womens dress began to be reduced， and this corresponds to the expansion of the sleeves and skirt. “X” shape became a symbol of womens beauty. Corset was an essential shaping tool to highlight the slender waist of women. At that time， not only women loved slender waist， men also used corset to create their own slim waist.

From 1870 to 1890， bustle was popular in womens clothing once again. In order to echo with the big buttocks， needed to use a tight corset to hold up the chest. To achieve a more beautiful S-shaped curve， needed to use the corset to flatten the abdomen. This great mass fervour of the pursuit of perfect “S-shape” made 1890s be called the “S shaped era” by the later clothing industry. In this era， to make the side looked like perfect “S”， corset played an important role that could not be ignored.

At the end of 1860， the steam stereotypes were used in the production of corsets， that means， made the corset first， and then painted the whole corset by paste， finally put it in a metal mold with steam to shape. In the 1970s， people invented a front-breasted corset called “buscenpoire” in French.

In the 20th century， Madame GachesSarraute invented the so-called “healthy corset”. The front part of this corset embedded in metal strips or whalebone to shape the belly straight. This corset upper opening was low， so that womens full breasts nearly came out， this structure was achieved through the longitudinal stitching of the cloth.

From 1890 to 1900， people began to widely recognized the harm of the corset to the body which doctors constantly reminded， so they advocated healthy， practical dress concepts. This called to the reformation of corset， and at that time it was called anti-fashion movement.endprint

During the First World War， men went to the front of the war or be killed in the battlefield， so women had to participate in social work. In order to facilitate the activities and work， the traditional underwear which bounded the body of woman was completely abandoned， replaced by the practical， convenient clothing， and corset was no longer popular. After the war， corset had been revived for a short time， but with the ideological changes of modern functionalism， pragmatism and a series of vigorous development of leftist ideas， corset was replaced by bra finally.

Since the 1980s， Calvin Klein as the representative of the American designer， with the unique American style of freedom created a clothing reform which impacted “the performance of the body” of the traditional concept of western underwear lasted hundreds of years. The natural， simple， comfortable， neutral design concept expressed from the pure underwear. Its style advocated “l(fā)ess was more” which did not regarded the female body as a decoration or mans vassal.

Since the 20th century， from the bra to bikini， and then from the bikini to neutral underwear， the revolution presented the functionalism and the liberation of the body. In addition to the emphasis on the concept of freedom and comfort， one of which could not be ignored， that was， the advent of elastic new materials and the oblique cutting process provided the material and process guarantee for the revolution.

In 1990s， due to new materials and new technology the improved corset was popular again. “Lingerie Look” became a fashion， the underwear which only showed in the bedroom originally， began to enter the public space.

In the 21st century， womens underwear based on the most cutting-edge technology had a wonderful interpretation. Tight but comfortable womens underwear began to be popular.

The evolution of modern western womens underwear lasted about hundreds of years. This development process was not only a history of underwear， but also an evolutionary history of female body and female social role.endprint