Promise by
Poirette
Can you spot the Poirette?
It might seem odd to illustrate a page dedicated to Poirette with four different girdles, but in the 1960s, competition for this garment worn by millions of women was intense. From left to right, Marjorie wears the classic Marks & Spencer satin elastic girdle, Amy wears a Poirette Promise, Madeleine (with some difficulty) squeezes into a later M&S product (hence the more utilitarian design) and Eileen wears a Miss Mary of Sweden. All are very pretty lower foundation garments, even the later M&S offering, but there is a marked difference in weight and denier of the elastic sections. The M&S girdles are heavier and more powerful than the Miss Mary or Poirette, nevertheless, all these girdles work well on the models. At first acquaintance, the Miss Mary and Poirette feel insubstantial but they work. Even Cathie Jung wore a Poirette until she started corsetting. Her very own girdle is shown below.
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As is so often the case, an 'empty' girdle really does not show itself to best effect; best leave that to the advertisements. Cathie's girdle (left) is a later Poirette than the example on the right or the one that Amy wears. This is obvious, as it is in the case of the M&S girdles from the substitution of nylon for satin and the reduced denier of the elastic sections. |
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A lighter weight challenge to M&S from Poirette and, to be honest, I think that the Poirette is doing a better job!
Lightweight corselette with the distinctive diagonal seams.
