Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
Pure Collection Ltd.
Net-a-porter UK

Friday 14 December 2007

Lingerie again


Many thanks to all of you wrote about your appreciation of the half slip. The industry has been fixated in the past few years with the changing shape of knickers - bikini to boy-short, not to mention control pants (what our mothers called 'roll ons,' 'foundation garments', or, bluntly, corsets.) But I'm inclined to think that we are in for a revival of the slip, which I have hitherto regarded as old lady wear. I suppose young women abandoned them in the Sixties because the ones on offer were too long to wear under a mini-skirt, and the whole point of clothes when you are 20 is how quickly you could get out of them.

The vest has been revived, in different form, those garments I wear under a top that's too low-cut or see-through for my taste. I had a look at Figleaves (see ad on the left) and they have lots of full-length slips which they call chemises, but no half-slips, apart from a couple of Spanx control ones. I wore the Vanessa Bruno dress with the half-slip last night, and it worked like a dream. So I'm even thinking along full slip lines now. Sleek 'n Chic offers vintage lingerie, but not sure if it's pre-worn. Yuck.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"roll ons" - love that! Does anyone remember full slips with bras incporated into them? I do, but haven't seent them in years.

Anonymous said...

OOO, Phyllis - I remember those, so I guess I'm really dating myself. I'm also a veteran of the early days of pantihose, when they had not gotten the elastic situation "under control". I have a vivid memory of walking home from school and the darn things just falling down around my ankles! But they were a real step up from hose and a garter belt or, shudder, a panti-girdle.
All of this discussion has made me think I need to do an inventory of my slips again and perhaps treat myself to a sewing weekend to produce some pretty half and whole slips. Hmmm...let me see...how about navy blue?

Anonymous said...

I actually found a couple of short half-slips at, of all places, K-Mart!

Anonymous said...

LOL, I was brought up to *always* wear slips. Nice girls wore slips so that no one could see the outline of their legs - *gasp*! Girls who did not wear slips were *not* nice. And I'm not a Victorian - I grew up in the '70's in uptight Connecticut. Still feel like a harlot when I forgo the slip.

Kelly said...

I love slips. I'm 21 and growing up my mom always had me in them. High school was the first time I realized that most other people didn't wear them, and some of my friends teased me (no one was nasty about it) but it never deterred me. It's hard to find pretty ones, though. I've searched high and low but have only found a few that I really love. I just bought a pattern so I can start to make my own.

woodscolt said...

M&S microfibre slips are perfect for making a smooth line, preventing cling, and they come in lots of different lengths. Twenty quid a pop! I think they do full- and half-slips. I think the pendulum has swung far enough away from the sixties now that wearing a slip is seen as quite sexy - I certainly feel sexy and grown-up when I'm wearing one, and taking clothes off to reveal an extra, unexpected layer, can be quite sexy...

I kick myself for passing on the collection of vintage slips I bought in the 90s (to wear with army shirts and boots...)