The Story of Camisoles, Chemises and Petticoats The camisole was first introduced in the 1800s and has been a favourite item of underwear. It consists of a short bodice with built-up straps and was typically worn over a corset. It was designed to cover the breasts and so provide warmth and modesty. Often they would be worn with a petticoat under a sheer blouse.
Most camisoles were waist-length and often were gathered and trimmed with lace or embroidery. These would have been worn with knee length cotton, ribbon and lace trimmed knickers. In the early 1900s wool and silk vests were popular and would have been fastened at the front with tiny buttons and tied at the waist. Stiffened cotton camisoles with similar fastenings were generally worn with French knickers again trimmed with lace.
In October 1909 The New York Times announced that Empire-style one-piece dresses would be the fashion choice for autumn. This style required specialised narrow lingerie and combinations were created.
Combinations were made-up of a chemise and drawers or chemise and petticoat. There was also a vogue for camisole and petticoat skirt or camisole and knickers combination. (The chemise ended at the hip, unlike the camisole that ended at the waist.)
By 1910, camisoles were often tied at the waist and decorated with pleated fronts, lace insertions, embroidery and shoulder straps of ribbon. Camisoles for the daytime were made of fine linen, voile, or batiste, and in silk for the evening.
At the start of the 1900s petticoats had become a clear status symbol. They were worn over a simple metal hoop and this framework gave skirts and dresses a bell like or pyramid shape. The size of the hoops varied and, not surprisingly, large hoops were uncomfortable to wear. This design had developed from the long, formal dresses of the 1800s.
White petticoats with deep pleats up to 23cm during the day and wider and deeper pleats for walking out were worn all year round. Cotton would be used during the summer with warmer fabrics, such as alpaca, in winter.
For evening wear black silk was a favourite and flounces of lace and embroidery that reached the knees was added to make them even more grand, and expensive.
By the early 1900s the petticoats were more like slips but started at the waist. They could be full or narrow, long or short and lace-trimmed or tailored depending upon the garment that was to be worn over it.
In 1909 knitted wool petticoats were introduced and over time the petticoat became narrower, although there was a fashion for wider skirts in 1915 and 1916 and the full petticoat had a renaissance.
By now the petticoat was often yoked, worn close to the hips but widening as it fell. Long skirts were deemed impractical for the new working and sporting women and hemlines rose. It became fashionable to show the edge of one's lace petticoat below the hem of one's skirt and this was noted in American Vogue.
But as the 1900s continued the full, decorated petticoat became less practicable. This was particularly so in the 1920s as 'flapper' fashions developed. With a skirt finishing just above the knee these styles were a sensation. Petticoats were no longer needed but a new form of underwear was.
Step in Mr Theodore Baer who invented the 'Teddy'. This garment could be regarded as either a combination of a chemise with a short slip or a long vest with panties.
Like the camisole, chemise and slip the teddy changed over time and these garments almost 'morphed' into one another, and so the names by themselves were not always sufficient to identify the product. For example, in the 1990s Janet Reger created a 'Teddy' using a combination of a 'body' and an under-wired bra!
But back to the 1920s. Whilst the society magazine The Tatler was still advertising camisoles in 1921, these high-necked, button fastening, starched 'bosom enhancers' were looking old-fashioned. The alternative chemise was more often worn; hip length and tucked into the knickers.
The chemise, known as the 'lawn chemise' by 1924 and the 'vest' soon after, were often luxurious, made of silk and hand embroidered. Later these vests became slimmer and briefer than the traditional chemise. They were a functional, practical but not very beautiful garment.
Because of its practicality and the lack of central heating vests continued to be worn. But the garment was not favoured by those seeking emancipation and sexual freedom. Many of the young considered the garment to be frumpish and having middle-aged connotations.
When skirts narrowed fashion editors advised their readers to tuck their vests into their corsets to stop the vest curling up in lumpy rolls around the waist!
By 1927 the floor-length petticoat, known as the Princess petticoat, had virtually disappeared and been replaced by the Princess slip, a simpler straight length of material with ribbon shoulder straps, fitted panels from top to hem and no waistline seam.
Silk was often used for these Princess slips, as well as for camisoles, teddies, chemises and dressing gowns or peignors and in an increasingly wide range of colours, with peach being very popular.
With the economic slump of the 1930s underwear was worn for function rather than fashion. The camisole made a comeback, this time to be worn without or underneath a corset rather than as a corset cover.
More substantial camisoles were worn in place of the restrictive 'bodice' and one, the famous 'liberty bodice' was fastened up the front with rubber buttons and had extra buttons for suspenders.
During the war years it had been a time of austerity for lingerie and much cutting and stitching was done at home using and re-using whatever fabrics were available.
In 1939 the film Gone With the Wind recreated a demand for the crinoline (hooped petticoats) of the American Civil War period (1861-1865) and this demand could not be met until after World War II had ended.
Crinolines could not be worn on their own, however, and all sorts of combinations of underwear were developed. Some examples are camiknickers (combined camisole and knickers), pettivests (a petticoat and vest), and camishorts (step in panties with a bra for evening or chemise for day).
Man-made fabrics were now increasingly being used for lingerie and this resulted in stylish sports or summer underwear (the rich of course kept to silk). For the winter, retaining heat was still a priority and wool and cashmere were popular, with flannel crinolines being worn under petticoats.
Dressier versions of the crinoline had the full Scarlet O'Hara treatment with pleated ruffles, satin or silk trims and were often lined with wool. For most women such extravagance was out of the question and they had a simplified version that was straight and pleatless and fell just below the knee.
Layers of stiffened net and frills with nipped in waists were standard for evening or party wear. Christian Dior's 1947 New Look was achieved with removable hoops.
A contrasting yet popular look in the forties was the sheath skirt and this required a very different type of petticoat. These were narrow and without trimmings that might add any bulk. Petticoat frills were strategically placed in the design to avoid too much excitement if accidentally glimpsed by male onlookers.
The 1950s were a decade of contrasts. Rock and roll attracted the first teenagers to set their own style and listen to their own music. The Froufrou petticoat was a sensation! It slipped on over layers of crinolines for dancing to the latest sounds. Women were determined to show off their shapes in as full a skirt as possible and so padded their hips with foam rubber and embellished them with ruffles.
But for the more sophisticated woman straight, seamless, chemise dresses were launched. Most of these styles were worn with straight slips although straight petticoats with slits at the centre front, back or side were worn. One graphically called the espresso slip was straight with ruffles at the hem.
The 1960s fashions were driven from London by the mini-skirt. Full flowing petticoats were out, but elastic was added to the waist slip to enable a short slip to be worn under lighter skirt fabrics. In 1963 the contraceptive pill was launched and almost simultaneously fashion homed in on the bottom as an erogenous zone. The thigh and midriff were publicly displayed and under tight jeans only bikini panties were required.
Towards the end of the 1960s the new nylon fabrics were used in short, frilly teddies in powder blue, blush pink or floral patterns. This perhaps heralded the revival of romanticism that started at the beginning of the 1970s with soft lace-trimmed camisoles and pretty petticoats.
But then, as denim was seen to be more than a fashion whim, the delicate lace teddies were abandoned in favour of the skin-tight Lycra body. Olivia Newton-John became a teenage icon in the 1978 film Grease when she was transformed from a mousy schoolgirl into a diva in high heels, leather jacket and black body-suit.
The 'body' was derived from the dancer's leotard and tightly fitting exercise wear developed into a legitimate mode for displaying the 'work-out' female body. The leotard or body worn as underwear shapes the waistline, rounds the hips, lifts the bust and emphasises the pubic area.
Fashion historian Julian Robinson comments "This not only makes the wearer feel good because of the slight pressure and friction on her clitoris, but makes her look good as well because of her sexual glow - the same sexual glow some girls achieve by wearing tight jeans and our ancestors achieved …by wearing tightly laced corsets."
His ideas not withstanding the 'body' named because of its second skin effect became one of the underwear styles of the 1980s. However the fashion message of this decade was not clear. Madonna wore underwear as outerwear when she dressed herself in bras, corsets and slips for her concerts.
This underwear as outerwear was typical of the decade, in which just about every style of lingerie from the previous hundred years was current, including Victorian camisoles, 1950s bustiers and even bustles! Silk camisoles were worn under 'power suits', vests were in the form of embroidered long camisoles in woven fabrics and short slips in wrapped styles were everywhere.
This journey into the past for basic lingerie structures continued through the nineties with lace, silk and sheer teddies and the return of beautiful corsets and elegant slip dresses. The widespread availability of stretch fabrics such as Lycra and the crossover of sportswear and day wear has led to a proliferation of vest tops and cropped tops, creating a sporty look, as well as the ubiquitous body and body-shaper.
In the new century a woman's most intimate garments can, if she chooses, be on public display without the risk of censure. She can be the romantic, she can use her lingerie to remodel herself and above all she can be in control in a way that was not before possible.
Sources and References:
Extracts taken from "The Best in Lingerie Design" by Joy McKenzie, published by BT Batsford 1997
Extracts taken from "A Century of Style: Lingerie" by Karen W. Bressler, Karoline Newman, Gillian Proctor, published by the Apple Press 1998
Extracts taken from "Lingerie A Lexicon of Style" by Caroline Cox, published by Scriptum Editions 2000
Extracts taken from "Making Lingerie and Nightwear" by Nicholas Bullen, published by Mills and Boon 1979
