May 14th, 2015 -- by Bacchus
1931 Lingerie Catfight
Really, what man wouldn’t enjoy Joan Blondell, Yola d’Avril, and Louise Brooks catfighting over him in his own bed…while he was in it?
From God’s Gift To Women, 1931. Here’s a still of Louise Brooks that was used to promote the movie:
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I’ve been watching a lot of these pre-code movies on Turner Classic, and besides the racier stories I’m fascinated by the clinginess and unstructure of the lady’s underwear. By 1950 lingerie was as resistant as a spacesuit or a Kevlar vest. I wonder what happened? More buxom ladies, the perfection of synthetic elastic?
I think it was the invention of Nylon, and possibly of synthetic elastics that were more durable and chemically stable than natural rubber is.
Note to petronius:
Back then, savvy actresses like Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow would have their wardrobe sewn from clingy fabrics “cut on the bias” from bolts of cloth specifically for the purpose of form fittingly showing off their curvy bodies. Bias cutting the panels made the cloth “stretchier” when worn. Silky/satiny materials sensually draped if not actually tended to hug the body like a wet T-shirt. Often you could easily make out details such as nipples, bellybuttons, and tufts of pubic hair.
Harlow: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/90/cb/0a/90cb0a8b68f96568f34377d12c709875.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/93/e8/3d/93e83d1737dd28c3cd0ee332fef6680c.jpg
Lombard: http://1.bp.blo...t.png
The Hays Code basically put a stop to such jiggling shenanigans when it forbid “Any licentious or suggestive nudity — in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture”.
Even in the late Sixties Barbara Eden was banned from exposing her navel on the “I Dream of Jeannie” TV series.
Thanks for your mention of bias sewing. I also am reminded of the famous story of Howard Hughes having his aircraft engineers design an underwire bra to corral Jane Russell’s ample charms while filming “The Outlaw” in 1940, by that point well into the Code regime,
Petronious:
You can see some great views of bias in action in Constance Bennett gowns in the 1932 film “What Price Hollywood”. In one bedroom scene her perky nipples are lit so that they are quite prominent and friendly looking in a paper thin nightgown before she rolls over on her man.
Shortly after that she’s seen in an evening gown where she not only looks like she’s smuggling grapes, but she whips around and displays her delicious butt cheeks in fabric so thin and clingy that if she’d had moles on her cheeks, you could have counted them.
I tried to find some stills online, but I was unsuccessful.