Philippe Perrot in an article on “Invisible Clothing” mentions the initialresistanceto the undergarment:
“The spread of women’s pantaloons within the bourgeoisie – and eventually among workers and peasants – did not occur without resistance. Medical opinion was itself mixed. According to Casimir Daumas, ‘In our temperate climate there are women who habitually wear underpants as their first garment. This is a superfluity that is usually unrelated to the harshness of the climate…. However, beneath a vast, open, cold crinoline, underpants might be necessary.'”
Pantaloons and pantalettes, on women, also became more decorated with lace as the trend continued (Figs. 3, 5). It also became fashionable to have them showing at the bottom of the dress. An anecdote from Susan J. Vincent’s bookThe Anatomy of Fashion(2009) recounts how a stylish princess wore her pantalettes:
“By 1811 for instance, fifteen-year-old Princess Charlotte, the rather racy daughter of George IV and Queen Caroline, had adopted them. Lord Glenbervie, who had it from his wife who was present at the time, wrote that on one occasion in company with her mother, the princess was sitting with her legs stretched out, thus showing her drawers ‘which, it seems, she and most young women now wear’. Her governess, Lady de Clifford, felt it necessary to give Charlotte a hint:
See AlsoSangeeta Pendurkar | Signify‘My dear Princess Charlotte’, she said, ‘you shew your drawers.’
‘I never do, but where I can put myself at ease’, replied the princess.
Lady de Clifford persevered: ‘Yes, my dear, when you get in or out of a carriage.’
‘I don’t care if I do’, came the insouciant reply.
‘Your drawers are too long.’
‘I do not think so—the duch*ess of Bedford’s are much longer, and they are bordered with Brussels lace.”
The need for women’s undergarments became apparent as the materials for dresses became more sheer. The pantaloons originally started out as tight fitting, but got more full and decorated (Fig. 4) as time went on and the trend evolved. They were also the first modern indication of women wearing pants.
