Readers occasionally ask me what ladies of the late 18th century wore for underwear beneath those lovely gowns and petticoats. Did they wear panties? What made their hips so huge and their torsos look like tubes?
On Sunday 19 September, Louise Benner, the Curator of Costumes and Textiles at the North Carolina Museum of History presented the program "From Head to Toe: Clothing in 18th-Century North Carolina." A portion of her program included showing the audience the underclothing beneath the gorgeous polonaise gown that a volunteer named Gina was wearing.
For upper class and many middle-class women, undergarments consisted of the following:
- Shift. Ms. Benner's hand is on the sleeve of Gina's shift. The shift, later called a "chemise," was made of cotton, linen, wool, or silk, had three-quarter length sleeves, and reached to the middle of the woman's calf. Shifts doubled as sleepwear.
- Stays. In the picture, the stays are the greenish garment across Gina's midsection. Stays were heavily boned, usually with whalebone, to keep the torso erect and thus heavily restricted movement in the upper body. Stays also gave women's torsos that "tube" look.
- Panniers. Also known as side hoops, these were tied around the waist. Panniers made the hips look extra-broad beneath the petticoat and lower portion of the gown. If the gown and petticoat were made of heavy material, panniers would be constructed of metal to support the weight of the fabric.
- Pockets. Gina's right hand rests on a pocket, accessible through slits in her gown and petticoat. Women might wear pockets on both hips and/or embroider their pockets. Embroidered pockets could be worn atop the petticoat instead of beneath it.
- Stockings. Made of natural fiber like the shift, stockings were tied with ribbons just above the knee.
A woman such as a laundress who performed physical labor also wore a shift and pockets, but instead of stays and a gown, she wore a short jacket (also called a short gown) with some boning, usually pinned closed across the front. The jacket reached to just below her waist and covered the top portion of her petticoat.
Panties arrived on the underwear scene decades later.
Ms. Benner's presentation was part of a collection of lectures and free programs that supports the traveling exhibition, "Discover the Real George Washington: New Views From Mount Vernon." The North Carolina Museum of History is the only venue in the southeast to host this exhibit, which runs through 21 January 2011. Colonial North Carolina Family Day on 25 September, in which I will participate, is one of the supporting programs.
I have a pair of “drawers” that belonged to my great-grandmother, dating from sometime in the late 1800s. Other than the freakishly tiny waist (presumably they were worn over a vicious corset) they’re essentially just two legs unattached to each other, about knee length. Convenient for the lady, but rather Frederick’s-of-Hollywood to us today!
My own research into undies centered on the sixteenth century. I found the most delightful drawings of Venetian courtesans with flip-up skirts, revealing their underwear underneath. One wonders what they were used for. (Perhaps it’s best not to know.) Here is an example:
http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/library/Flipskirt.jpg
And look at those chopines! We think today’s platform shoes are extreme.
Very interesting post, Suzanne. Sounds like a fantastic presentation. I love details about clothing through the ages.
Elizabeth, thanks for your post and that entertaining url. The underwear on the courtesan looks almost like the outer garments a man would have worn. Cross-dressing to please a patron, perhaps? Walking in the chopines and dealing with the weight of the gown must have presented quite a challenge.
Thanks for this delightfully informative post, Suzanne. I can only imagine a woman’s embarrassment when walking in public in a high wind!
(Cheers from a fellow writer and CTTer)
Nancy, I’m a Revolutionary War reenactor and have been there/done that with the petticoat in the brisk wind. The “Flying Nun” effect is bad enough, but in my case, I was carrying an armload of kindling and couldn’t control my petticoat.
Flying petticoats made me think of that famous Marily Monroe photo. Glad to find your blog! Would you like to cross post to Clio’s Children, the Historical Novel Society blog for writers? Let me know and I’ll set you up.
Karen, thanks for stopping by — and the invitation to cross post on the HNS blog. I have more to post about the George Washington exhibit, so this would be a great opportunity.