Beyond black and white: The bold and beautiful shades of Lingerie

The text below is the excerpt of the book The Story of Lingerie (ISBN: 9781783107452), written by Muriel Barbier and Shazia Boucher, published by Parkstone International.

For a long time women’s underwear was white, a symbol of chastity, purity and morality. Bright colours were associated with prostitutes, apart from stockings in soft colours like pink, and blue, and patriotic colours which were worn during the French Revolution. In the 19th century elegant women wore grey or black stockings. In Autre étude de femme (“Another Study of a Woman”), this is how Honoré de Balzac describes a “respectable woman”: “She does not wear bright colours, nor apparent stockings, nor a too-ornate belt-buckle, nor bloomers with embroidered hems which flap around her ankle. You should notice her feet or her shoes […] and extremely fine cotton stockings or one-colour silk stockings in grey, or laced boots of exquisite simplicity.”

Bright colours and decoration were the reserve of shows and courtesans. Also, the black stockings worn by the French Cancan dancers in Henri de Toulouse Lautrec’s paintings carried a certain eroticism and were only sported by cabaret dancers, prostitutes and certain elegant ladies. The falsely prudish society of the 19th century preferred white for lingerie, particularly in England during the Victorian era. Apart from chemises, petticoats and bloomers, it was considered good form to have black or white corsetry but never colours which were considered excessively luxurious by the Baroness of Staff in Cabinet de toilette.

Nevertheless, in the second half of the 19th century, women sometimes dared to wear petticoats and bloomers in yellow or red as worn by Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. Colour was not used in women’s underwear until the beginning of the 20th century. Fabrics, decoration and their colours now changed from one season to another. Between 1910 and 1920, pink or sky-blue underwear began to be worn. In 1917, Vogue showed corsets in blue satin. The first Petit Bateau briefs were in silky white, pink and occasionally blue cotton. Colours were still pale and soft, evoking ideas of virginity and purity. Blue was the colour associated with the Virgin Mary.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the palette diversified with more pink, yellow, purple and jade green, sometimes decorated with cream-coloured ribbons. For evening, women dared to wear transparent black. Elegant women particularly liked black Milan silk decorated with cream or beige ribbons. In the 1930s pastel colours became popular: flesh, ivory, pale blue or green for underwear and also for nightwear. Dark colours such as red, burgundy or black became popular later in the decade.

In the 1950s black and white were once more the colours of choice, in particular for girdles made of black or white lace and lined in pastel netting. But whiter than white was back, trimmed abundantly with lace, embroidery and ribbons. Nevertheless, new colours were being introduced, such as coffee, turquoise, tea-rose, coral, peach and also delicate prints of flowers and stripes.

In the 1960s colour took over undergarments. “Young” fashion also meant colourful underwear. Unified pastels were displaced by bright, even garish, psychedelic colours and overall prints. Panties were flowered, polka-dotted or striped in fuchsia, orange, turquoise and apple green. On the other hand, in the 1970s, prints were no longer fashionable for underwear but were used in daywear or nightwear. There were numerous striped pajamas or floral nightdresses. Bras, briefs and tights were popular in single, daring colours such as apricot, olive green, coffee, fuchsia and turquoise. Gradually, flesh colour and its derivatives became more widespread in underwear. This development was linked to the new concept of underwear being a second skin and the desire for it to be as discreet as possible.

The first stockings and bathing costumes in flesh tones appeared at the dawn of the 19th century, during the Directoire period, because of its extremely transparent dresses. But this change was brief, and white came back in force. Flesh, pink and peach colours became common for stockings around 1925: again, these colours suggested that bare legs were being revealed. Flesh was extremely popular in the 1960s and 1970s, a period when the body was admired and simplicity was the order of the day. Lou’s model “filet” (“net”) was available in white, but also in chestnut or caramel.

Later, some brands such as Princesse Tam-Tam (1985) introduced decorative patterns like tartan, fruit prints and flowers embroidered with little bows. Some pieces fitted in with the “cocooning” movement, where day and night underwear is so comfortable that it is nice to wear it to stay at home. These patterns were fresh and had a child-woman image. Eventually, in the 1980s, lingerie became more sophisticated and adopted the bright colours normally reserved for prostitutes: red, black and purple lace. Underwear took the upper hand and was eccentric and arrogant.

Many women’s undergarments became real clothes designed in fashionable colours. Nightdresses were worn as summer dresses, vests took the place of t-shirts and corsets were worn for evening. Celebrities in show business often wore visible, brightly-coloured underwear. They include Annie Lennox (the singer from The Eurythmics), Gwen Stefani and Mylène Farmer. Madonna sang in a green corset edged with black lace and Britney Spears wore a bubble-gum pink G-string over her pants. To sum up, colour is vital in underwear and wants to make a statement. The colourful underwear of today’s woman is the underwear of the prostitute of previous generations. It is true that underwear illustrates liberal society, but it is a society which often verges on the vulgar.

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