| Just how did lingerie come to be? Corsets thrived | | | | chemise, or shift or smock today. The garment |
| during the ancient times in Greece. The first | | | | would be paired with leg wrappings. During winter, |
| corset was made in Crete at around 2000 BC. Its | | | | women would be sporting elaborate petticoats |
| purpose was to emphasize a woman's bust while | | | | that instead look like a skirt than an |
| creating an impression of a smaller waist and | | | | undergarment. |
| exaggerated hips. Corsets would sometimes be | | | | Incorporating reed or willow rods in women's |
| embellished with a brooch or a pin. It would take | | | | petticoats during the 16th century helped a |
| years before leather and wool were introduced. | | | | woman's posture to be more upright. This was |
| In Rome, women wore loincloths that could pass | | | | the farthingale that became increasingly popular as |
| as panties. Sometimes, they would also wear | | | | years went by and were later replaced by 'pair of |
| breast cloths or bras made of soft leather to | | | | bodies' or corsets. The construction of the corset |
| cover their breasts. Other fabrics available then | | | | has a stiffened bodice that was to be exposed in |
| would only be wool and linen or a combination of | | | | public while another decorative bodice underneath |
| both. Only the rich could afford silk which was | | | | it was stiffened with whalebone, reeds, buckrams, |
| imported from other countries. | | | | or canes. These corsets were |
| The Middle Ages saw medieval women wearing | | | | straight-up-and-down-shaped unlike the |
| close fitting clothing similar to what we call | | | | hourglass-like ones during the Victorian period. |