1970s Clothing

1970`s lingerie

It is undeniable that the world of women`s lingerie experienced a revolution in the 1960s, with women realising for the first time that underwear did not necessarily need to be cumbersome and restrictive. The sexy hourglass silhouette synonymous with the 1950s was quickly rejected by the women of the swinging 60s, being replaced with notions of female liberation and much less constricting underwear.

What began in the 1960s was only continued in the following decade, as in the 1970s lingerie continued to change dramatically. Women`s underwear continued to shrink in size, most notably so in the context of knickers and briefs. The 50s trend for (what we would now consider to be) `big knickers` largely remained throughout the 1960s, as although women were happily dispensing of their corsets they seemed to still have a soft spot for kickers that finished at – or even above – their belly button. In the 1970s however, changes in fashion meant that large knickers were no longer an option and the lingerie world had no choice but to change in order to accommodate this.

In the 1970s jeans became a staple of the female wardrobe for the first time. Despite being very wide at the bottom jeans were designed to be fit snugly around the waist and bum and waistlines became lower and lower until the now popular low-slung `hipster` style was invented. These low-slung, tight-fitting jeans then meant that women obviously did not want to wear large knickers, so lingerie manufacturers started producing much smaller bikini style briefs which proved to be incredibly popular. These new briefs had higher legs and much lower waist lines than the knickers they replaced, making them much better suited to be worn under the tight fitting jeans that were fashionable at the time.

It was not, however, just women`s pants that were undergoing huge changes, as bras also changed a great deal during the 1970s. First and foremost, the 1970s was the decade in which the push-up bra was invented – a style of bra that is still hugely popular with millions of women to this day. Furthermore the huge surge in popularity of the humble t-shirt in the 1970s also forced lingerie manufacturers to develop seamless underwear, as many women did not want their bras to be visible beneath tight-fitting t-shirts. As a result of this more and more manufacturers attempted to produce bras that would give a so-called `natural` look and thus the `t-shirt` bra was born.

It is clear to see that in the 1970s fashion had a huge influence over what was happening in the lingerie world, one final example of this being the invention of the strapless bra. In the 1970s boob tubes became hugely popular, particularly amongst young women who embraced the contemporary disco culture of the time. In order to provide support for women wearing boob tubes underwear manufacturers then produced stretchy strapless lycra mesh bands, which despite being both unattractive and largely uncomfortable, paved the way for strapless as we know them today.

In the 1970s lingerie manufacturers started to dispense with the old fashioned notions that lingerie should only be available in white or a variety of pastel shades and instead really started to experiment with colour. Soon bras, briefs and lingerie sets became available in a variety of the colours and prints that were popular at the time. Lastly, it was in the 1970s that people started to realise the potential benefits of flesh-tone lingerie, as many women started to wear them beneath white or semi-translucent clothing.

The 1970s was an exciting time for lingerie, as many developments took place which influenced the styles of lingerie we wear today. Many designer lingerie brands such as elle macpherson underwear show clear influences from the 70s, meaning that in terms of lingerie we have a lot to thank that decade for!