garter, panty girdle and nylons

More crappy underwear from the 60/70s 
I am sure the expensive underwear were more comfortable than what the average woman wore at a price she could afford.

I guess a garter belt in of its self was not uncomfortable. 

The average garter belt was plain and white. You clipped your nylons on at the end, making sure you did not go past the double top of the nylon or else you had an instant run in your stocking. As you can see you could adjust the length of the garters too.  It would be lumpy under pants, best worn with a dress or skirt. 

If you were in need of a girdle but not the usual heavy duty girdles, you could wear a panty girdle.

Not that comfortable but more light weight than the heavy duties.  And again, lumpy under pants. Although it was called a panty girdle, you did wear panties underneath. 

Nylon were miserable affairs, even when they started to reinforce them at the toes and heels to help prevent runs.

If you got past 2 uses out of one without a snag or run you were doing pretty good. If you saw a snag a dab of nail polish was good to help prevent a run.    Going to high school with a run half way down your leg ending with a dab or nail polish was not an uncommon sight.   

At least the nylons with the seam up the back was going out of style although you could still by them.

Like all these garments they came in different sizes.  Nylons also came in short, medium and tall.  How annoying when you bought the wrong height!  Too short and you had to make the garters longer which might show when you walk because skirts were short back then! 

Or too long you had to clip the garter right onto the nylon and not the double top which almost guarantees a run before you even got to school.

Pantyhose was starting to become popular and more comfortable than anything else being worn. 

That did away with garters and girdles and nylons for the most part. 

 Just like slips and half slips were hardly used any more.  It was not too long ago I got rid of my last half slip.  I had not used it in years,  

A bra from the past was a torture device invented by a man.

I HATED BRA'S! 
They were one of the most uncomfortable  garments made by man. No wonder we burned them in the 1960's! 

First of all think of a bra you are probably wearing right now.  Now think of your bra without an ounce of elastic or stretch material.  You can not imagine how uncomfortable that is.  And to think I could not wait to wear one. My first bra was a 30 AAA. I know why bother but you could tell if a person was wearing a bra or a tee shirt when you wore your St.Fidelis uniform,  and the boys would make fun of you if you wore a Tee.

I went to Flushing and bought my first bra and then called my mother from a phone booth and told her I bought one.  I was not sure how this subject would go down, so I did it this way in case I had to return it. But all my mother said was...what for?  

The back of the bra was about the same today, different hooks to adjust the size.  The bra's were all cotton and shaped into a point.  Yep, a point.  The straps were a BIG problem. You could adjust the strap, the thing is, if you had to reach up for something, the strap was too tight.  But if you left it looser, the strap would fall off your shoulder. A rub burn from the strap was a pretty common thing. Even the part under your bust could cause a rub burn.  I am not sure if expensive bra's had any elastic but I know mine and my families had none.  

No padding in the cups, tissues were a filler. Some girls would cut up undershirts or socks for fillers too because no one's breast filled a cup evenly. I searched but can not find the bra's I wore. Here is just an example.

My bra's were not this pretty and the straps were thinner around the back. But in this picture you can see the clips and how you adjusted the straps.

When elastic was being introduced, they still had those type of clips for adjustment. 

So even though bra's got better, much, much more comfortable, I still never liked wearing them.

AND don't get me started on Nylons and Girdles!  That will be another post. :)