~JUST A WEE BREAST-NOTE~
Before we move onto the thirties, just a wee (quite shocking!) note; after binding their boobies for so long in the twenties, thinking they would plump back up when the flat-bosomed-trend ended, they often just didn’t!
Unfortunately strapping down the chest (and hips, and bottom, and waistline) for about a decade, actually had a negative effect on the shapes of breasts…yikes!
How were the 30’s luxury lingerie designers gonna solve this grand (not so) breastie conundrum?
~HELP! WHERE ARE MY CURVES?~
…When the very flat-chested, heinie-and-curve-starved roaring twenties drew to a close, women wanted to express their lush feminine rounded contours again.
So, when entering the 30’s we started to steer away from the boyish look and had a renewed desire to look curvaceous in all the right places…
Luxury lingerie creatives started to design garments with a more rounded shape and pointier ones when it came to breasts.
Also, the hips were back a bit and so they wanted to create items that made sure to give way to the natural waistline.
Next to this, it was also important for the 30’s woman to look like she wasn’t wearing any underwear as the fabrics of the dresses would in this era give a lot away from what was underneath.
That, after all, was the new glam, the new Hollywood look…
Dresses cut on the bias in combination with the materials used like slinky satin, shiny silk, crepe de chine, satin georgette in the thirties, would cling to every curve and show off the edges and lines of their lingerie.
There was a lot to be solved on the luxury lingerie front, right?
~HOORAY FOR CUPS IN 30’S LUXURY LINGERIE~
Yes, we wanted cups in our bras and girdles and yes, we wanted our breasts to be perky and lifted…
And of course, we wanted to also show off a flat tummy and show a bit of hip, but please thirties, can you make the undergarments so that it doesn’t show through my beautiful dress?
Bring it on thirties!
The 20’s tube-bra gave way to bras that separate, lift and offer support with the help of triangular-shaped light fabrics and cups.
Also, the luxury lingerie world adopted actual A-D cup sizes.
We still see a bandeau bra, similar to the ones in the ’20s, but this time it had a panel in the middle to show separation between the breasts and had thin shoulder straps.
This bandeau-type bra would also be called a bralette or if they were extended down, a longline bralette.
The bandeau bra, as it didn’t offer a lot of support, was absolutely fine for the smaller chest.
If you needed more support and lift, you would go for a cup bra, which had an inner shelf and a cup/cone/pocket lining.
These babies were often beautifully finished with for example a lace or embroidered outer layer.
For the bigger-boobed ladies, there was the option of going for a type of corset for the chest, or something similar to a stiff sports bra, with a closure at the front, that extended down over the midriff to mid-belly.
You would also see these types of brassieres (in the thirties the word ‘brassieres’ was shortened to ‘bra’) with the option to lower the back, so you could effortlessly wear these under a glamorous dress with a low cut back…
~BOTTOMS & SUCH~
In the luxury lingerie realm of the thirties, the essentials next to a wireless bra would be the step-in girdle to keep hips, bottom, and tummy in check if you felt you needed to, tap pants for a panty-line free coverage and a slinky silky chemise…
But we also see briefs coming into play now, these would be fairly plain and unlike briefs nowadays, they would be high-waisted and not tight but bubbling around the hips and bum.
The main bottoms to wear were the tap pants which was similar to earlier bloomers, but the legs would be flared and open.
These tap pants (that you could often get with a matching bra) or step-in panties were also very popular among tap dancers in the thirties, hence the name.
In any which way, and hooray for that! The female (fairly) curvy form is back…perky, lush boobs and all!
And hidden gorgeously and glamorously so underneath those beautiful thirties gowns, would be that fairly cupfull-licious, shaping luxury lingerie…
~*~
Main Sources:
https://www.bobbinsandbombshells.com/blog/2016/9/21/fashionable-history-lingerie-by-decade-1930s
https://vintagedancer.com/1930s/1930s-lingerie-styles/
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