January 2014:

As always, some folk will look back on 2013 with affection and others will simply be glad to see the back of it (right).

2013 had highs and lows, but the making of the calendar will remain a definite high in our memories. For the first time we enjoyed the company of a younger model that has allowed us to develop the wedding theme. Spirella's corsetières loved weddings. Everybody wants to look at their best and in the 1960's, an experienced fitter could receive commission on corsets, girdles, bras and even Spirella's own branded stockings.

A back that my husband is always glad to see

The 'what lies beneath theme features in the calendar but we decided against it for the cover. Likewise, the fierce corsetiere was rejected in favour of a smiling version. After all, it was such fun making the calendar!

Mrs. Fogg

On the right, from the 1950's, we observe a change from the standard corset model's pose in front of a mirror with a bowl of flowers in the offing. The stout matron holds aloft a small poodle. What is this supposed to signify? Perhaps the lady rejoices that her study Camp corsets allow her to lift up her dog, a feat that, without her supports, would have put her back out?

Camp model and a dog

Meanwhile, bang up to date in 2014, it is satisfying to note that Werkmeister of Germany still produce some high quality products. We have elaborated on this elsewhere.

I was surprised the other night to see a girdle advert on the television. Normally, we switch off (mentally) whenever the adverts appear and go and make a cup of tea, but the young lady in her shapewear arrested my attention as well as that of my husband I might add! I had not seen such an advert since the 1980's and it goes to show that more women are relying on shapewear these days. There are some serious foundation garments out there at the moment and the old lie of loosing dress sizes simply by wearing a pair of elastic underpants is being re-invented by the marketing department. A foundation garment may support you and it may shape you but it cannot compress you for the human body is basically water and water is incompressible. My engineering husband found some pictures from Ardyss that demonstrate this.

The picture on the left shows a sight that will be familiar to many, a tight girdle just before it is pulled up and over the abdomen. Once in position (centre), the shaping effect is marked and the lady has achieved a very good result. Unfortunately, as is obvious from the superimposed pictures on the right, the remarkable reshaping of her abdomen has caused an equal amount of flesh to migrate upwards into her brassiere. If she had purchased a larger cup size, the effect would have been quite elegant, as it is, her 'cup runneth over' somewhat alarmingly. Nearly a very good effort!

Below, from Nina von C, a set of slides that bring a limited amount of joy to my heart. The corsetiere is there; the client is there, even the reflection in the mirror, so reminiscent of those Spencer adverts of yore, is there, where where are the bones and the zipper? Without those, I fear that the semi-elasticated tube into which the thin model has been placed will do little for a serious figure. My husband adds that in boring beige it won't do much for anybody else either, but once again, it's a nice try!

An Update on Rubber Corsetry

As we have stated in the introduction, this site is not a work of scholarship and from time to time, our assumptions and poor research lead serious researchers to contact us. We do welcome this for how else can we improve the content of the site. A researcher into the history of the use of rubber for foundation garments, reducing and various cosmetic improvements wrote us a comprehensive review of the subject and we have reproduced much of this in the section, Reducing Corsetry. In brief:-

"You wrote on your website that rubber corsetry was introduced in 1920's. This is wrong. The famous patented 'Medicated Rubber Garments' by Dr. Jeanne P.H. Walter already came out in 1909." We did allude to such garments, however, our correspondent had provided some excellent material.

How interesting that the use of the word girdle appears above in the early 1900's. It is a laced-front long-legged rubber contraption called 'girdle pants' and you could wear it, without discomfort under your corsets!

Brabarella

We love this charmingly named site, not least because of the amazing smile that one of the models can produce. They have kindly allowed us to use some of their photographs and, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, we hope to emulate their style in our next calendar. They have achieved what we have always tried to portray in our calendars, and that is real women wearing real foundations of the period. We sent them, by way of thanks, calendars from 2010, 2012 and 2014. It reminded us of how these calendars have progressed over the years. It started with 12 models, all selecting one or two foundations, then it was only four models but with multiple foundations and we introduced some vintage clothes for a formal or wedding type gathering. In 2014, one of the model's daughters was roped in and became the bride of the wedding scene. Where will 2015 take us?
 

Jenyns Corsets

One of our calendar models, in fact the lady who has portrayed the corsetiere in the last two calendars (left), has been asked by the Women's Institute on several occasions to talk about her experiences as a corset model! To aid her presentation, we loan her half a dozen girdles and corsets and this time we decided to provide her with some of the garments that she had actually worn during the photo shoots. One of these was a formidable fan-laced Jenyns corset (left) and it reminded us that we have three original Jenyns from about 1912. These are by far the oldest corsets in the collection that is largely post WWII; these are pre-WWI! Amazingly, one is still in its wrapping after 100 years and we have no intention of unpacking it. The two that have been unpacked have survived well; the fabric is still in good condition although there is a little discolouration due to age (right). The suspenders have lost a little elasticity, but I doubt that there was ever very much. The only sad deterioration has been in the elastic lacing that takes the place of the front gores on a more modern garment. This disintegrates on touch. Fortunately, we have found some white elastic shoes laces that when stained in a cup of tea look remarkably original (below, left)! All we need now is a model with a waist of 22 inches to wear it!

The picture (above, right - click to expand) reveals that fan-lacing and the Jenyns system of adjustment was still quite a novelty in those days and this original corset has no less than four leaflets carefully sewn onto the fabric to explain the workings of this device.

We have been away for a short break in France, such is one of the pleasures of retirement. In contrast to our friends across the Atlantic, we have had a very mild winter, but it has been extremely wet and some of our local roads are still closed due to flooding. The damage to the roads in England, that had one year's rain in three months, is dreadful and lies in stark contrast to the billiard table smoothness of the French motorways. As all big-breasted women will know, pot-holes in the roads make for a very uncomfortable journey. I'll be wearing far stronger bras until the local councils do something to restore the road surfaces in our part of England at least!

Our recent articles and pictures of traditional foundation garments still made in Germany have elicited quite a response and we received a handy link to some decent foundation wear. We also found a German corset, albeit a vintage article that has so many bones that there is barely space for any fabric!

Girdles that stand up for themselves

We talked about this in the 2010 diary, bemoaning the flimsy shapers of today as compared with the formidable Spirellette 105. Well, we received a pristine Marks and Spencer floral girdle from the 1970's and it stands up beautifully. My husband has a horror of these girdles, possibly influenced by his university years when female students were prohibited from wearing floral underwear underneath their white shirts (mandatory for exams in those days).

Marks & Spencer girdles through the ages.

Shapers are becoming big business. Oh how I hate that word 'shaper'. I'm Dutch and a girdle is a girdle; you call it like it is, but nevertheless, the fact that women are beginning to take an interest in their figures cannot be a bad thing. Once again, at the forefront of this shapewear revolution are the Latin countries. I cannot really imagine wearing the all-in-one 'body' depicted to the right in the steamy environment of Caracas or Bogota. To be honest, it doesn't look as though it would be that powerful, although the fabric is far prettier than the beige and brown industrial strength shapers that certainly are that powerful.

One only has to browse the (very useful) comments that adorn the Amazon web-site to find out that sizing is a major problem with these garments. So many variables have to be covered in an all-in-one garment; bust, waist, hips, thighs and even in one garment, arms as well. Only with a made-to-measure garment could any consistent fit be achieved. A famous German actress and singer in her later days wore such a garment under her stage clothes but indeed it was made-to-measure from the ultra-heavy duty satin elastic beloved by Marks & Spencer in the 1960's.

Part of the sizing problem is that the garments are constructed in China and Latin America where average sizes are dramatically different. What might be large to a Chinese lady would be an impossibly tight fit for your Caracas matron and the Amazon comments bear this out.

How to wear Premium Beautiful

The right sequence:

1) Wear Long Girdle

2) Wear Long Bra

3) Wear Waist Nipper

Wearing the Long Girdle

1. First, fold the girdle length in two halves, fold the edges legs of the girdle once.
2. Pull the girdle up through your legs carefully. Nails that are too long or pulling too hard can easily damage the fabric and reduce its function.
3. Upon wearing, hold the girdle with one hand on the outside for support while reaching the other hand inside the girdle to lift up the bulges in the flesh. The bulges on the inside of the thigh should be pushed toward the back and lifted up.
4. Lightly adjust the front and back levels of the girdle to the waist line.
*Note: Remember to wear panties inside the girdle: You must reach you hand into the girdle to adjust the bulges.

Wearing the Long Bra

1. Bend your waist at a 45° angle with your body inclined downwards. Put on the garment from the bottom up with both hands holding the lower side of the cups. Place your breast inside the cups.
2. Maintaining the same position, move your hands to the back an hook up the back hooks. Ensure that the straps are located firmly on the shoulder blades.
3. Straighten you body. Holding your left breast with you left hand, place your right hand to the left side of your back. Push extra flesh into the breast cup. Quickly move your left hand upwards to hold the strap adjuster and tighten your strap line with your right hand. Make sure that the Breast point is in the center of the cup, comfortably resting at the front center.
4. Move your arms and shoulders up and down to make sure that the side line below the cup does not move about.

Wearing the Waist Nipper

1. Bring the zip of the waist nipper to the left front of your waist, zip up from the bottom, ensuring that the top edge of the girdle is right below the edge of the bra.
2. Make sure that the center of the waist nipper is in line with the center of the bra.
3. Tie the strings properly adjusting the tightness.
4. Pull the hooks to the front of your tummy and hook up.
5. The string in the holes must line up horizontally.
*Note: After dinner, you need to readjust once more. Upon being fully dressed, twist and turn your body a little to ensure that you are comfortable.

The cartoon seems to depict a youth, however, this is East Asia where the women are characteristically elfin.

August 2014: "Summer's here and the time is right .......  for modelling Jenyns Corsets!"

The picture on the right is, I believe, quite unique. The charming Victoria wears what would be described on Ebay as a BNWT (brand new with tags) Jenyns corset. The corset is 100 years old and this is the first time that it has been worn. It is covered with little labels explaining how the apparently complex lacing system works. This corset was made under licence by Symington & Co. of Market Harborough, Leicestershire since Sarah Jenyns of Australia, having patented her designs by 1912, travelled to England where she contracted to have her corsets manufactured.

This is a museum piece, and I'm sure any museum curator reading this piece would have swooned by now. It is a gripe I have about museums. I love the 'junk shop' approach to museum display where they try to exhibit as much as possible of their collections. I hate the vast rooms with one exhibit and a seat so that one can appreciate the exhibit more profoundly. If, as a researcher, you wish to see the other parts of their extensive collections, you have to wade through security processes, an incomprehensible computer access system and then don full biological protective gear before being allowed near the precious exhibit which is mummified in layers of tissue paper (I exaggerate, but only a little.)

Our collection that does contain some museum quality pieces, is for people to handle, to touch and particularly to wear these old garments, for how on earth can you experience what a corset was all about without trying it on? Victoria loved the embrace of this 100 year old corset that possibly her great-great-grandmother might have read about in a fashion magazine of the day.

Talking of summer, and haven't we enjoyed a really good one this year (England), Victoria wears a summer dress from the 1970's (left). Underneath she wears a Marks & Spencer girdle that conveniently is dated (as M&S garments were in the 1970's) from November 1974. In our experience, women who try on garments from the Ivy Leaf Collection, and so far they have ranged from 19 to 90 years old, act like 'kids in a candy store' and I think Victoria's smile bears this out. They love the clothes, the embrace of the confining underwear and the elegance of a long departed era. "I want one of those" is uttered by almost all our models and we believe that is down to the hands-on experience; that is something no museum can offer.

The End of What was New

For a start, the brassiere and girdle that Victoria (left) is wearing are not new. They were new over 40 years ago and have been unworn since, but the ethos of the Ivy Leaf Collection is that these garments should be worn and appreciated, not locked away for the occasional researcher. The girdle is a classic Spirella style 234, developed in the 1960's for the larger post-war woman. The quality, strength and cut of such a garment are unknown today, however, they were greatly appreciated by our model.

"A corset can do a lot for a lady," So said Carol Channing in the film 'The First Travelling Saleslady' (1956). I agree with her. So does the lady on the right (2014)!

A request

The demise of the corset shop is well known to all aficionados of the foundation garment and these days, there is often no record of their passing. Does anybody out there recall the corset shop 'Madame Selma Pick' or maybe 'Pik' in the Byram Arcade, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire? A reader who used to live in Huddersfield and remembers her mother being fitted there would love to find out what happened to it. It was still there in 1989.

Back to those Stewardesses

The erudite Roger has sent us a few articles recently. One about the inconsistency of bra sizing and another about stewardesses and girdles.

The 2015 Calendar

We have put together some ideas for a new calendar (click on the thumbnail - right). As mentioned above, it sticks to the ethos of 'what lies beneath' and the elegance of the post-war decades, but the setting and style is very different. A possible title is "Ivy's Leaf's Foundations of Fashion". We have received positive and constructively negative comments about the preview above.

Two examples are shown on the right: The worn girdle has no garters, however, when a picture is displayed (far right) garters are permitted. Is there some sort of limited censorship going on here?

Note the association with the airline industry. Flying was becoming more popular, yet it still retained a certain chic, a social cachet long before the advent of the package holiday. That the elegant lady wears a girdle is testament to the fact that the airline stewardess (visible in both adverts) is probably wearing one as well. Most women did in those days.

As the package holiday developed in the 1960's and flying became more common, so the elegant girdled lady would soon become a creature of the past.

Roger K. posts another article:-

Re that Sarong girdle-glimpse ad in “Curiosities”: I remember a brief interview with a woman in show business who was on an airplane in the 60's. It had a problem after takeoff—smoke in the cockpit, I think—and had to turn around and land. Although there was no real danger once on the ground, "procedure" dictated that passengers had to be evacuated down the emergency chutes. Passengers were instructed to raise their arms straight overhead as they jumped to the chute and to let them trail their body as they slid.

She was one of the first passengers down and remained at the bottom of the chute to help passengers to their feet and to lead them out of the landing zone. The women-passengers’ dresses and skirts went up over their waists as they slid. (The women were somewhat “dressed up” for the flight and few or none were wearing slacks.) She said that those at the bottom, mostly stewardesses plus a few “helpful” guys, "really got an eyeful," girdlewise.

Ivy Leaf meets Cathie Jung

Yes! It actually happened during a trip we made recently. It was a delight to meet Bob and Cathie on their home territory and they showed us true American hospitality to the extent of hanging the Union Flag outside their apartment.

I quote from a page on our web-site "The Queens of Tight-Lacing were undoubtedly Ethel Granger and currently Cathie Jung who have both graced the Guinness Book of World Records, however, such attenuation goes beyond the subject matter here." In conversation with Bob however, we realised that we were coming from the same direction in that we both appreciated the female form as controlled or shaped by foundation garments. Bob and Cathie have explored the world of real tight-lacing, whilst our own interest lies in the 1960's style of foundation garment, however, the elegance achieved is well appreciated by both parties and was a central theme of Les Gracieuses Modernes inaugurated by Rudi van Ginkel in 1986.

The picture on the right shows Cathie wearing a 20-inch waist Axford's corset (which of course was far too big for her waist) holding up a 26-inch waisted Marks & Spencer girdle from the late 1950's. Both are elegant garments capable of powerful shaping that illustrate both the similarities and differences of our interests.

These photographs have been reproduced with the kind permission of Bob and Cathie Jung.

Cathie was delighted to pose in a few of her wonderful collection of corsets and we are beginning to build up a page dedicated to Bob and Cathie.

The 2015 Calendar:

We visited the printers yesterday to see the final draft of the 28-page calendar and they have done a super job. It will be printed by mid-November and cost £10 + p&p as in previous years; all revenues will be donated to charity. Ordering details will follow when the calendars are ready to post. Meanwhile, we leave you with Victoria's own thoughts on the matter:-

The 2015 Calendar is ready!

The calendar is a 28-page, A4 format affair, much the same as 2013 and 2014.

Despite a sharp rise in the cost of printing, the cost of the calendar will be held at £10.00. With the current exchange rates this translates to €12.50, US$17.00 plus postage and packing which also has increased. Issues of the re-mastered 2010 calendar and original 2013 calendar are still available at £5 each plus P&P. Since all proceeds go to charity, we can escape the UK's 20% VAT charge!

To UK:         £10 plus 2 postage & packing = £12

To Europe:    €12.50 plus 5.50 postage & packing =  €18

To USA:       US$17 plus 8 postage & packing = US$25

   & the rest of the world

If you wish to order a calendar, please let us know and we will send you a PayPal invoice.

Thanks for the Response!!

Wow!! Within 24 hours of advertising the calendar, half have already been sold and posted off as well as a number of the 2010 and 2013 editions.

End of November 2014:

I cannot believe that Monday will be the first of December! Where did time go. At least we got the calendars out in good time this year and made a charity very happy.

We came across two Spirella girdles for sale. We're not tempted to buy since we have many 234 model girdles in our collection, however, by comparing the two girdles, one can gather some interesting pointers for dating these garments.

After the war, Spirella soldiered on with the same styles of girdle and corset that had been around before the war. They had the patterns and there was material left over from wartime supplies, notably parachute nylon. However, with rationing over in Britain, the late 1950's saw a new wave of wealth and the 'Teddy Boy' era. Being better fed than they had been for generations, people started to grow, and the hip-spring of late 1950's women became too large for the traditional style of the model 205 girdle. In 1961, the 234 girdle was introduced by Spirella to handle the burgeoning British hip.

So, the first pointer is that these girdles must post-date 1960. The white girdle and the black girdle share some details notably the metal zipper. These zippers were replaced by plastic or nylon zippers at the end of the 1960's. They were not as strong but they were were smoother, cheaper and more appealing. So the girdles belong to the 1960's. The elastic gores on the white girdle are of an older, latex-based, coarser weave than the lycra-based elastic on the black girdle. The elastic on the white girdle is showing signs of wear and it gives all the signs of good use by an older lady. The give-away point is the choice of longer, adjustable suspenders. For decades, stockings were short enough to require very long suspenders and only grew to upper thigh length in the late 1960's as they followed the rising hem of the skirt line. Tights would solve this problem in the late 1960's anyway. The longer suspenders indicate a conservative and thus probably older woman.

The white girdle will be early 1960's and the black girdle, late 1960's.

Victoria wears a 234 girdle

The Spirella 234 girdle designed in response to the larger woman of the 1960's. This girdle could have been worn by a younger woman, the short suspenders indicating a higher skirt hemline than the wearer of the black girdle would like.

One of the local TV channels has been showing repeats of the Lucy Show (1962 - 1968). These shows took place during the 'golden age' of girdles and the figures of Miss Ball and her partner Vivian Vance must in some part be due to proper foundation garments. Miss Vance famously quoted when she was about to be introduced to the British Queen “If I wear a girdle to fit into my dress, I can’t curtsey!” We were watching an episode called 'Lucy gets a roommate'. She wears a tight skirted yellow silk (rayon ?) dress. The doorbell rings and the athletic actress bounds across the room and mounts two steps. What is so obvious is that gait imposed by the tight skirt and (presumably) her girdle! In a previous show with her husband Desi Arnaz, Lucy blurts out "My husband won't even spare me seven dollars for a new girdle!" This suggests that her husband is tighter than her current underwear.

In the lovely short story by Jean Spencer called 'Bringing Up the Rear,' she describes the introduction of a teenager to her first girdle and eloquently manages to describe Miss Ball's sprint across the set:
 

My hips were immobilized. Normal running was impossible. I had to take short, staccato, tiptoe steps, otherwise known as "running like a girl."

She stepped back, tilted her head from side to side and turned to my mother. "She needs a girdle." Girdle! The word startled me. It was like ice water being thrown in my face. A girdle was the last thing in the world I wanted.

My mother nodded. "A lot of girls your age wear girdles. Mrs. Holmes told me that Elizabeth wears one." I wasn't surprised. Miss goody-goody, prim and proper Elizabeth was probably born wearing a girdle.

They're back!!! Girdles, those infamous weapons of mass reduction have returned to the fashion scene.

This picture is a tribute to Cathie Jung who wore one of our 21-inch corsets with absolute ease (and several inches to spare)

 in contrast to poor Victoria who got stuck in the same corset and failed to close it by some four inches.

Cathie is two generations older than Victoria but both turn heads when they enter a restaurant.

One of the very few films to feature a corsetière is 'Carry on Loving' (1970), one of those lively, low budget, quintessentially British comedies. The picture above features Joan Sims (1930 - 2001) lacing a long-suffering Amelia Bayntun (1919 - 1988) into her corsets. They never made a 'Carry on Corsetière'; what a shame!