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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. > >When I first became aware of and to be honest obsessed >with open bottom girdles was in the mid 60s when I >spent a lot of time with my Auntie in leafy East >Cheshire >I used to see my Auntie in her open bottom girdles and >nylons almost daily, and in the road we lived in there >where a number of girls ranging from 12 to 16 who also >wore open bottom girdles with nylons and a few of >these girls who my Auntie knew would get old nylons >off my Auntie ( as she generally only wore a couple of >times ) and I often used to be treated to seeing them >trying on the nylons, so from 1965 up to the late 60s >at least in a part of East Cheshire girdles where >widely worn

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