WEAR CORSETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1939, Page 8

WEAR CORSETS

NEXT TO YOUR SKIN. In spite of the returns that have been written on the subject, in spite of the advice of corsetieres everywhere, there is still a great percentage of New Zealand women who insist upon wearing their foundations over their vests. This is nothing short of an anachronism, a relic of the days when foundations were “ironsides" that could not be laundered, and consequently had to be protected from skin excretions. Women in those days wore sturdy calico chemises and the corsets were so rigidly boned, they couldn’t move anyway. Today, things are very different. Corsets are only lightly boned and. often boneless. They are completely flexible, and this flexibility, together with their ability to? fit snugly to the figure, depends upon panels of lastretch fabric. The efficiency of this stretching fabric, and consequently of the whole garment, is greatly reduced unless it is worn next to the skin, clinging snugly, like a peach skin clings to a peach. The gentle grip of the lastretch on the skin keeps the garment in place on the body. If the vest is worn between the garment and thb skin, the grip is on the vest—and that's not much use, is it? The vest slips about on the body, and the corset slips too. It wrinkles, ruckles up, and becomes a liability to your appearance, instead of your main asset.

Modern foundations simply love to be laundered—it restores the “life” to the fibres. They should be washed frequently and regularly, like any other piece of lingerie. So there’s no need at all to wear a vest to protect your corset. And all good foundations are designed to pamper your skin. Closings are backed with plush, all seams are completely flat and ridgeless. And one garment we know has the metal bones replaced with “fabric” bones — narrow strips of 200 per cent stronger lastretch woven into the material, to take the place of bones. If that’s not luxury, what is it?