LEG BAND GIRDLES

 

Some girdles were offered in a "leg-band" style without garters.  An example of this style is shown with an all-in-one corselet from the 1936 Sears. Henry Herbener applied for a patent in 1939 on this style. There appear to have been technical details in his patent that differentiated it from the garment offered by Sears. His patent #2,300,153 was finally granted in 1942.

 

In 1949, Sears advertised this again, as the "pre-war favorite . . . first time back". One of the intended features was that the leg-bands would act to anchor the garment and prevent ride-up of the girdle. This may have been necessitated if the woman intended to wear her girdle with slacks, but didn't wish to wear stockings.

 

From an engineering perspective, a girdle (or garter belt), garters, and stockings are an interactive system. The girdle acts to hold up the stockings, and ideally, the stockings are attached at the right length and tension with the garters to prevent girdle ride-up.  

 

 

JC Penny offered a variation of the leg-band style around 1998-99. Essentially it was a crotch-less long-leg panty girdle. It was shown with the model wearing panties underneath. However, I think this would defeat any aspect of "sanitary convenience". I suspect that it was not a popular item for women (although it may have been very intriguing to their "significant others"), and it was only offered for about two years.

 

Martin Goodman developed Patent # 2,382,477 in 1945 for a woman who may wear an outfit where she did not wish to wear stockings. His invention would serve the same purpose as girdle anchors and additionally, was equipped with a crotch piece that could open.

 

 

 

 

Girdle Anchors:

 

These examples from the 1958 and 1961 Sears, show another approach to address the girdle ride-up problem with "girdle anchors". With this accessory, a woman could wear her regular girdle (with garters) and not have to use stockings.

                                       

 

An original example of this accessory was offered for sale as a collectable and I included those images to help clarify how it was used.  

   

Girdle Hooks:

 

To complete the integration of the system of interconnecting support for separate female undergarments, long-line bras were often equipped with from one to four  "girdle hooks"  (also called corset hooks, girdle tabs, foundation grips, foundation hooks, or corset attachments) on the bottom. 

A post-surgical long-line bra in the 1960 Sear's fall catalog was equipped with 6 girdle hooks. Examples are common in catalogs from the 1930's through the 60's. One longline bra with girdle hooks was advertised on the Internet in 2002.

 

The 1936 Sear's "aircooled reducing brassiere" description makes it sound like it's being run by a Volkswagen engine!  

Unfortunately, I haven't located an ad that shows these hooks being employed with a bra and girdle where it clearly shows how the hooks attached. The shape of the hook is most clearly visible for the 1958 Lane Bryant extra long brassiere.  The loop type shape looks like it is intended to slip over a button or hook on the girdle. However, the images in the 1943 Charis catalog and 1936 Sears don't show any such protuberance.

 

 

The image shown with the corsets in Montgomery Ward in 1943 suggests it hooks into the front lacing system or loops over one of the nubs for the front girdle closure (but it is still not clear). However, that doesn't explain how a bra with two front hooks is anchored. I also wondered if the hook had a sharp point that was intended to "grab" into the girdle fabric or under a cross-lace.  That seems undesirable. It seems that the lady would have to choose her garments with great care to be sure all the "appurtenances" lined up properly. This could be a real problem without a high level of standardization of design. Perhaps a reader will clarify this point.

 

Designers were starting to move away from this arrangement as early as 1952. The Aldens catalog that year showed a long-line bra on page 294 and specifically stated that the "bottom holds firm without girdle tabs".

 

The long line bra with a "front corset hook" from Montgomery Ward in the summer of 1978 represents one of the last examples in a large store catalog. However, I found a Grenier long line bra with corset hooks on the Internet.

 

In 1979, inventor David Ichelson developed a bra for wear while jogging. He wanted to keep the breasts from bouncing up. The system he proposed was to have adjustable straps that would hook onto the woman's shorts, and was similar in many respects to the earlier system of girdle hooks. 

                                     

 

 

Inventors and Designers:

 

The US Patent Office now has most of its patents on the Internet. The patents are indexed by all words in the patent back to 1975. However, all patents can be viewed page-by-page with a number or category-code search. Many patents refer to work by earlier inventors. The list of those patent numbers enabled me to research early material that had not been digitized.

 

No discussion of inventors would be complete without mentioning "Professor Gale". This is his picture from the 1936 Sears. The "Gale" name was used for decades afterward by Sears as part of their corsetry advertising. He looks like a stern old chap. But, he may actually have been smiling under his moustache and really enjoying himself as he conducted his research and development on undergarments for full-figured ladies. I have tried to locate his patents through the US Patent Office. However, nothing was referenced to the "Gale" name. Several of the large catalog companies had their own brand names (but I don't know if they were based on real people). Showing a photo of Prof. Gale doesn't prove he was real - but it seems like a lot of trouble to establish a trade name if he wasn't a real person.

 

Henry Herbner was an inventor whose name is not well known outside the industry. However, he had at least five major patents that spanned from 1938 through 1973.  One of his early major contributions was the development of a system to prevent the edges of foundation garments from rolling. Two of his patents have already been discussed. Two others for adding flexibility and an unusual crotch support system with Modesty curtain" are shown here.

 

One article suggested that he may have originally been an engineer. Records of the Munsingwear Co. (Minnesota) show that he was an employee from 1951-1953. He is deceased. His last address was Thomasville, GA.  

 

 

In 1978 People magazine recognized inventor N. O. Brantley for his development of a brassiere for large busted women. His invention will be discussed later in the section under nursing bras. He is also deceased.

 

Early garments were quite stiff. Inventors recognized the need for better flexibility, comfort, and ease of access for elimination purposes (previously noted).  An important invention in the development of more comfortable and flexible control garments was "power-net" fabric. S. Siciliano invented one of the types of elastic fabric that helped revolutionize this industry in 1963. The image from the patent application gives some idea of the complexity of weaving these kinds of materials.

 

One fictional inventor in this field was featured in the 1968 Shirley MacLaine film "The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom". Mr. Blossom (Ms MacLaine's movie husband) manufactured women's underwear. His fervent wish was to provide every woman with the bust line she desired. His invention worked with a gas-expanding bra - which went awry.