With an Afterword by Virginian
Born in these remote islands downunder in 1943, I have been fortunate to have lived through the great era of girdles. I was a teenager before Lycra was introduced to these shores, saw the introduction of pantyhose and what that did to the use of girdles, and am delighted there is some return of an important garment.
The essence of my girdle fascination has been inseparable from girdles on women, not to take from them what is theirs, but to add to what they have and who they are. Not that anything like all women understand or appreciate what girdles have to offer, but when they do, and their action is rewarded by the male response, there is a dimension to life, loving, and living which is truly unique for both female and male.
My mother was not a great girdle wearer. There was not a lot of money around in the late 1940's and the 1950's and we were a large family of 6 children which left little available for more than the very basics. But I do recall - and liked very much - my Mother's practice of getting nicely dressed before my Father was due home, complete in stockings and corselette. Being a professional, my Father also dressed well. That is not the same as expensively. It served to confirm in my mind that my parents took delight in each other, and their dressing nicely was part of that delight each took in the other. That was an early mental image.
My girdle fascination has been there for as long as I can recall. From my early school days it was there and it has only ever become stronger. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the rather conservative Victorian values which permeated the society in which I grew up. For all the prim and proper values, there was often great sexual tension in the air, all of it supposedly to be kept in check until there was privacy. That's not a bad thing, but that did not stop women and men going through the preliminaries. In privacy the sexual tensions generated earlier, much of it through dress, could be relieved.
There was plenty of elegance, even for those of modest budgets. Many clothes were typically made at home. There were more opportunities for dressing up and there was the expectation that this would happen. Sunday was a special day when most people dressed in their Sunday best for church, particularly at special times. There were more social customs requiring one to dress up. There was a much greater sense of achieving adulthood- the twenty-first birthday party- or entering a new and more mature phase. Balls and dances were frequent events and we were introduced to them from our middle school years when we were just 11 and 12 years old. Most of the girls wore stockings while the boys got into longs - all very self consciously. Many girls became young women via the debutante balls which were regular events, and often rather grand set pieces. All these events required dressing up, which was a lot of the fun. There is much less clarity today about growing up and other life transitions, and rather less celebration of them. There has generally been a move to much less formality in many areas of life, and this is reflected in dress.
The movie industry reinforced the benchmarks set for dress. The girdle was an integral part of dress and elegance of the late 1950's and 1960's. Yet it was more than an aid to elegance precisely because the girdle was an intimate item of a woman's dress, and so carried with it a sense of closeness and allure. The girdle adverts lifted the veil of intimate secrecy which Victorian values had woven around a woman, the more so as girdles became more refined garments and as the rising post-war generations increasingly threw off the more conservative dress values. (On the beaches the bikini was a more dramatic statement about casting off conservative dress conventions.) I once heard girdle adverts described as soft-porn, and there is some validity to that view during the 1950's and early 1960's when I was so impressionable.
Certainly, a girdle advert could, among other things, arouse senses. A subtle woman could build on the adverts, not by flashing her girdle to attract her man, but in displaying herself to her best advantage and letting the imagination, informed by the ads, do the rest. Flaunting her girdle would make a woman, well, rather cheap. And what male with any sense of the mystery of womanhood and the chase would have had it otherwise? The girdle glimpses - sometimes intentional but probably more unintentional - merely made women more desirable. They were so near, and yet so far.
Quite apart from how they could help shape and arouse desires, so many of the girdles themselves were fine and elegant garments, adding to their inherent attractiveness to both women and men. The slimming and shaping function was one thing, but by the 1960's good girdles were attractive garments in their own right with good design, clever patterning, and those little finishing touches which really set them off, from the little bow trimming the waist of a light girdle, through the cut of the reinforcing panels of a long leg panty girdle, to the satin ribbons covering the suspenders of a high-waisted, zippered, firm control open-bottom girdle. They were crying out to be worn by any woman with an ounce of elegance in her.
Virginian reports in The Girl in the Pale Blue Girdle how he suddenly came to realise girdles were worn by young women of his age. Either we were exposed to different ads downunder, or I had never really taken in the older ads, for I never had any doubts that while girdles were for women of all ages, the younger set was the target group. The post-war baby boomers were a critical market for the fashion industry, particularly at a time of rising incomes. I was very aware that girls of my own age wore girdles, not only from what the ads informed me, but also from observation. One of the abiding fascinations was over what particular style of girdle a young woman might be wearing.
Such questions first really came to exercise my mind when the senior girls from the adjacent girls' high school came down to boys' high for drama rehearsals. They would arrive, and depart, in their uniforms, complete with stockings (this was before pantyhose). Some slipped out of their stockings during rehearsal, yet all left with stockings back on and reattached. Fascinating stuff! Surely, they must be wearing panty girdles, I reasoned, since an open girdle would ride up without the stockings to keep them down. Perhaps they wore suspender belts, except they never appeared to have to go searching for those suspenders when it came to leave, certainly not the way I had observed my sisters searching for their suspender belt suspenders. One did not stand there gawking after drama rehearsals, and anyway the girls turned their backs when reattaching their stockings. Whatever the reality, I much preferred the thought of them in panty girdles, and such thoughts certainly seemed to fit with the positive personalities of the girls who slipped off their stockings on such occasions.
My recollection of the ads I saw growing up showed lovely young women doing the modeling, for the most part. They served to show what any healthy young male would love to see, but could not unless in exceptional circumstances. They were good ads in that they were attractive and eye-catching. They also served to appeal to a rather stylish and elegant dress code.
Early glimpses of actual girdles were pretty much restricted to what was on show in the shop displays, and what went out on the washing line. Department stores and underfashion shops often featured extensive girdle displays in their front windows, lasting several weeks at a time. Gradually one acquired a knowledge of the wide range of styles offered by different manufacturers.
Seeing a nice girdle on the washing line was always a bonus. Mowing lawns for pocket money when aged 12-14, I regularly saw washing on the line, including the girdles of the lady (ladies) of the house. By the late 1950's and 1960's girdles were not items to be hidden from view, or disguised as something else. I knew the middle-aged woman next door wore a white, high- waisted open-bottom girdle- a modern girdle in the late 1950's- because she put it out to dry on the line most weekends. As she stepped out to work each day she carried herself with such poise. It reinforced the image I was picking up from the newspaper adverts.
One of the very early ads I remember in the 1950's was of a tall and elegant woman about to descend the steps from an aeroplane, her diaphanous gown blown aside to reveal her in a white, high-waisted open-bottom girdle. And there were many other ads too which emphasised the elegance, poise, and good deportment of the models in girdles. Many ads also conveyed dynamic and happy- even fun- moods of their models in girdles.
Such visions brought with them early senses to the teenager of what womanhood might be about and certainly informed the mind about what to look for in a woman. The girdle helped the woman be a woman, to express her personality and self-confidence, for her own sake. So girdle and woman became inseparable, each adding to the other.
Several years later in another city, when I was around 16-17, my Saturday job was mowing lawns and keeping the place tidy for a well-to-do young family. The youngish woman (then in her late twenties) always dressed nicely for her husband, who clearly enjoyed her all the more like that. I can think of few times when she was not wearing stockings and a girdle. From her own deportment and smooth lines alone I knew she wore a girdle, but then they appeared regularly on the washing line, too, in case there was any doubt to anyone.
One Saturday night I was baby-sitting their two young children while they went out to a function. She appeared in a lovely, figure-hugging sheath dress to wait in front of the open fire before she and her husband left. She looked very lovely and later, when I had to retrieve something from the laundry, I saw her zippered high-waisted girdle in the laundry basket. If that was still in the laundry basket, I reasoned, then she was wearing her rather newer high-waisted step-in open girdle that evening because both had been on the line earlier in the day.
Again, here were woman and girdle together in a marvelous way. Knowing she was wearing her lovely girdle was, at the same time, a moment of getting past the barriers of intimacy, and confirmation of what a girdle could do to make a woman more lovely still. My fascination was enhanced.
About the same time two young women from a visiting girls' choir were billeted with us while the choir sang in our city. They were very pleasant, yet not especially attractive, young women. Like Lillian's story of the concert girdle, both of them wore high-waisted open-bottom girdles- but no zips- to their concerts. (They laid their girdles out on their beds ready for when they dressed for their concerts.) One girdle had such pretty embroidery on the front panel. Knowing that the choir girls were in their high-waisted girdles as they went to sing in their concerts was, to me, a lovely part of their womanhood.
One after-school job saw me working for the largest jeweller in town, running errands, delivering and collecting repairs and so on. All the five or six women on the staff wore girdles. The signs were there for the trained eye. The two youngest ones quite often had conversations about their girdles, and not of the "my girdle is killing me" variety. Their hand signs around their waists, thighs, and derrieres, illustrating different girdle lengths and styles, indicated they were obviously swapping notes about what they were wearing or were thinking of purchasing. From time to time, perhaps when they had a new one on, they would lift their hems to show each other, but they were discreet, and their backs were always turned from the gaze of any male members of staff.
Male staff were themselves discreet, yet their comments, while invariably restrained, could also be mildly suggestive, which was part of the fun about those days. I often think there was a much keener sense of what was proper between male and female then, of where the limits were. That did not mean there could not be fun. I remember how one of the younger male staff held the waist of another of one female staff and commented. "Ah, you're wearing your boned corset today." No one was embarrassed or awkward. I just wished I had been old enough, and had the confidence, to place my hands around a woman's waist and feel that girdled figure. I had to wait until student balls before I could slip my hand around a lovely woman's waist and feel her girdle.
In my university student years an annual event was the student procession through the city before capping (graduation) ceremonies. One year I saw a young woman I knew quite well talking with someone on one of the floats. We had talked often and easily and I had always enjoyed her company. Going by her deportment and other signs, I knew she wore girdles regularly. I don't recall the message of the float, but I do recall that several young men on it were dressed in high- waisted open girdles. When she drifted along to our float to chat I discovered it was her brother she had been talking to, in one of her girdles.
So she was another who wore a high-waisted open girdle! She was someone I really did like a lot, but she had a few years on me so it wasn't really a starter. This was certainly a case when knowing that she wore a good high-waisted open girdle added greatly to her allure in my eyes, and I enjoyed her company even more when we were subsequently in conversation.
Being in conversation with a well-dressed young woman would invariably carry an air of tension for me, particularly if she was in a girdle. I may have seen positive girdle signs, or simply assumed she was wearing one. Picking out those girdle signs became habit. Partly it was deportment, partly it was how the body moved, partly it was the way the clothes revealed a smooth line beneath, but the tell-tail suspender buttons and evidence of a girdle hem were there for all to see when she was seated, particularly if wearing a sheath dress or straight skirt. Girdles had hems above or below the suspender. If there was no hem then it was a suspender belt- an inferior garment. A girdle with six suspenders showed buttons on the side of the thigh as well as on the front. The rear suspenders were never easy to see. With six suspenders the girdle was a superior style girdle. A long-leg panty girdle showed a hem below the suspender button, while a hem above the button indicated either an open girdle or a panty girdle. The position of the suspender button on the thigh also indicated what style of girdle was being worn. A button high on the thigh indicated a brief panty girdle, and so on down the thigh to the longer girdle styles.
In one sense the buttons and hems were not obvious until the eye had been trained; then it was a comparatively easy matter. In a general sense, the less obvious the buttons and hems, then the more superior the girdle. If a young woman were wearing pants or jeans, then it was simpler to tell whether she was in a panty girdle with a brief, medium, or long leg, and whether there were four or six suspenders. A young woman wearing a panty girdle under well-fitting white slacks could have a powerful effect on a young male.
One young woman we had living with us while she attended university had a nice firm little Gossard girdle for her Sunday best. It spent the rest of the week in the hot water cupboard after it had been through the wash. A lovely garment, it fitted her well. It never occurred to me to think of trying to catch a glimpse of her dressing. Her neatness and the fact that I knew exactly what girdle she was wearing was enough.
Very occasionally I would catch a quick glimpse of a woman's girdle as she turned or bent or did something. Suddenly a stocking top, suspender, and the bottom part of the girdle, would be revealed. Or else a dress or skirt which had not been pulled over a crossed leg revealed a long-leg panty girdle- in black or white or pink lace. Not long was needed to determine what sort of girdle was being worn. Sometimes the girdle glimpse would be less clear, and probably more fascinating because of that.
Over the years there have been many such positive girdle glimpses. Yet one of the most powerful mental images was left there by what I did not see. One morning on my postal run (one of the jobs I had while completing graduate studies), a registered letter required a signature on delivery. My knock on the apartment door was answered by a young woman, peering her head around the door. On learning the reason for my knock, a bare arm reached round the door for the receipt, and as she signed, a lovely leg in a lovely stocking was extended round to keep the door from slamming shut. There she was in her stockings and, since she had opened the door, I assumed she was in her bra. But was she wearing an open girdle or a panty girdle, and if so, what style and colour?
The fullest girdle view I ever had outside marriage was at a party when one young woman, having enjoyed a drink or two or three, flung herself backwards on the sofa in such a manner that her skirts and petticoats flew up, providing a fortunate few of us a full view of her stockings, held up by an open-bottom girdle. It was not a girdle of any particular quality, just a fairly simple pull-on, four metal suspenders, and an embroidered front panel. While appreciating this entirely unsolicited and unexpected showing, I just wished she had been in a really good quality girdle. That would have given the moment some real tension. Yet, had she been the sort of woman to be wearing a girdle of real quality, I'm sure she would not have provided such a lovely, unimpeded glimpse from the tips of her stockinged toes to the waistband of her girdled waist.
By the 1960's there was a rich array of foundation garments readily available. Lycra had arrived, making garments so much lighter and more user-friendly over long periods. With lycra also came the pretty lacy fabric weaves which could be almost as controlling as the ordinary weave, and so lovely on a woman. In addition to the regular whites and blacks there were many more colours available: robust reds, rich blues, soft pinks, deep coffees, and many others. Better still, they could be matched with bras and slips. If you knew your matching styles, then a lot could be deduced about the rest of the foundation garments worn from just seeing the slip. There were panty girdles from brief to long-leg, open girdles, high-waisters and waistliners, split high constructions, and much much more.
Girdles were- and are- fascinating for their visual qualities, their touch, and even their smell. There is also a fascination arising from their function of control (whether light, medium or full) and in holding stockings (or pantyhose) in place. Good girdles are obviously never left to engineers to design- thank goodness- nor to artists. They are a subtle blend of engineering and creativity.
Then came disaster- or so it seemed at the time- pantyhose. It finally hit home to me when I saw one young woman striding up the hill in a very mini miniskirt. It would have been a very brief panty girdle holding up those stockings, unless....
Then the awful truth dawned: she wasn't in a panty girdle at all. Her stockings were pantyhose.
Thanks to the imagination of the foundation garment manufacturers, girdles entered their next phase and the panty girdle was worn over pantyhose, but by a progressively dwindling population. Either I clung to the old memories or else I moved with the times. The latter seemed the only sensible option and not an undesirable one given the lovely garments made to be worn over pantyhose. The body suit began to emerge, particularly from the early 1970's. Many of them retained the control functions of a good panty girdle. Like any good girdle, they added greatly to a woman's posture and poise and provided that smooth line over hips and derriere.
Rather than being fixed on a particular vision, a series of visions have been important in my girdle fascination. There has been development of those early visions, but their essence has remained- a good girdle on a woman has been central to my fascination. Developments in the design and manufacture of girdles have continued to add to the visions and the fascination. When it is my woman in a lovely girdle, then my imagination can be translated into action. When my woman knows how to play on my fascination then that merely leads to our heightened mutual enjoyment- always in love.
Keeping the imagination and fascination alive with that special woman is another matter, beyond this discussion. At least with something of a return of the girdle the fascination can continue to flourish.
Afterword by Virginian
I suspect that some women may find Tom's keenness of observation to be unsettling. Yet few are unaware of the male tendency to accept, with gratitude, the visual delights that chance presents.
It is only when appreciation turns to active pursuit that aesthete becomes voyeur. A legal analogy comes to mind: those familiar with American constitutional law will know the terms "reasonable expectation of privacy" and "plain view." As police are constrained to respect the former, but are free to take note of that which is not concealed, so Tom follows an explicit code of conduct:
It never occurred to me to think of trying to catch a glimpse of her dressing. Her neatness and the fact that I knew exactly what girdle she was wearing was enough.
I, and I suspect others, can empathize profoundly with the sentiments that Tom expresses in this key paragraph. Not only on the "voyeurism" issue, but in a deeper sense, as well. The assertion of the second sentence, reinforced by such pronouncements as,
This was certainly a case when knowing that she wore a good high-waisted open girdle added greatly to her allure in my eyes, and I enjoyed her company even more when we were subsequently in conversation.
...illustrates a dimension not widely understood by those not sharing the fascination. The satisfaction found in the company of an admired woman, elegantly girdled, can transcend the sexual plane to attain the sort of idealized adoration described in medeival tales of courtly love.
For another account of a young man's growing fascination with the Girdled Woman, read The Girl in the Pale Blue Girdle.
To hear the voices of other men bewitched by the power of girdles, follow the discussion, All Men Hate Girdles, Right?
Return to Mens' Dreams
Page designed and maintained by 
Orginally Posted April 20, 1997