12. Girdles Under Blue Jeans
In response to a question about whether or not girdles were worn under blue jeans:
When I was a teenager I wore a skirt or a dress 99% of the time. I have some regret about that since I was missing out on some fashion styles of the period which I now think are pretty nifty but thought were somewhat juvenile-delinquenty back then (and am now too old to wear without looking silly). I never looked like a juvenile delinquent. I never even looked particularly casual, by modern standards.
But once in a while, even in those pre-casual, pre-athletic (for girls at least) days, I went hiking, or to a barbeque, or once, to a hayride. I even helped boyfriends wash cars on two occasions, and I did some gardening with my mother. And on all of these occasions I wore jeans. And yes, I wore a girdle. I wouldn't have dreamed of not doing so.
It may be hard to imagine now, and I'm certainly not advocating it for modern teenage girls. But you have to remember that, if it was assumed that women needed girdles under dresses, and if it was thought that a growing girl needed "support," and if it was thought that going without a girdle was immodest, then it certainly made sense that a modest young lady, especially one with fully developed curves, would wear a girdle under something as close-fitting and figure-revealing as jeans or slacks. Girls even wore them under shorts. I'm not saying all girls all the time, but I do think it would be fair to say that a very significant percentage of girls wore girdles under their blue jeans from 1950 to 1966 and virtually all of them wore girdles under the stretch pants that were very popular in the early sixties.
What kind of girdle was worn under casual clothes depended on the situation. If I was just gardening in the backyard with my mother, I would have worn a light-control girdle brief. If I was washing a car with a boyfriend in jeans and a flannel shirt, I would have worn a short-legged medium control summer girdle probably, with the garters taken off.
On the one memorable hayride I went on, I remember that I wore a firm control long-leg panty girdle, because it was after all a date and a social occasion. I remember that girdle because I wore stockings and the legs of the girdle and the garters were discernible under the jeans and I had to make a conscious choice between having them be evident and wearing something less controlling under very tight jeans. I don't remember that clearly, but I think I also wore a firm control panty girdle to barbeque parties, which were, after all, parties. The few times I went hiking (never anything terribly ambitious), I probably wore at least a medium control girdle because I was always with a boyfriend.
I still do wear a girdle when I garden, because I find that it helps to support my back with all the bending I need to do. I didn't have to think about that sort of thing in those days. It's not a big problem. I am, after all, used to it. I wouldn't however recommend a girdle to any woman involved in anything aerobic. Much as I enjoy them, they are not fun to sweat in.
Continue to Girdle Flirting
Copyright 1995 by Suzanne. Used with permission of the author.
Return to Romance and Glamour of Girdles Index
Page designed and maintained by 
Originally Posted April 20, 1997