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>Encouraged by your interesting post, I will add a few >lines with information from the UK from the 1950s and >1960s. I assume that Clara is writing about the USA >because she refers mainly to panty girdles and these >were uncommon in Britain until the 1970s when tights >took over from stockings. >I took a great interest in women's and girls' clothing >in those days and was fortunate to be able to learn >from them about their experiences. Girls started off >with suspender belts when they began to wear stockings >(usually at the age of 12 or 13 and then only for >special occasions. Regular daily wearing, including >to school, usually came a little later. >Open girdles (OBGs) always required stockings to be >worn to prevent them riding up, so girls didn't wear >girdles until they were able to be regular stocking >wearers. Even then, slimmer girls were often happy to >stick with suspender belts but some mothers liked to >introduce girdles as a way of preparing daughters to >look after their figures. Deeper suspender belts were >also often worn as a half-way step towards a girdle. >We often hear talk of "training" bras but, although I >never heard the term used, girls often started with >"training girdles". These were simple, all-elastic >tube-like garments, often in a pink or "tea-rose" >colour but sometimes white (I never saw a black one) >and consisted of a single layer of stretchy elastic >net with four suspenders. Without stockings they >would almost immediately curl up from the bottom into >an uncomfortable tourniquet ring around he waist. >There was a variant of these simple girdles in which >the elastic was overlapped to form a double thickness >across the front, giving, I imagine, a little extra >tummy control. >A girl who wore suspender belts told me that she >thought even those simple roll-ons would be unpleasant >because, as she put it, it would be like having the >long suspenders on her belt held together by elastic >and that would surely restrict her legs when walking. >I think that was true - but girls and women seemed to >accept it. >Talking to a girl who had recently started to wear a >simple elastic roll-on, she agreed that having the >elastic around her hips and with the short suspenders >did feel a bit strange at first but she soon got used >to it and, in some ways, found it more comfortable >than the suspender belts because the suspenders >didsn't constantly stretch and relax with walking and >didn't stretch very tight and dig into her flesh at >the back when sitting. In other words, these gentle >"training" girdles allowed girls to prepare themselves >for what was then expected to be a lifetime wearing >girdles. Of course, less slim young women very soon, >encouraged by mothers, siblings, friends and magazine >articles and advertisements, realised that their >figures could be better shaped by more controlling >foundations and it was surprising how many mid-teen >girls had already moved on to "proper" girdles.

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