Ivy Leaf's Diary
2026
Wishing all our Readers a Happy New Year
January
In case you did not
know, 1953, 1957 and 1970 have the same calendar as 2026. What extraordinary
history is encapsulated into that period. The Korean War ended to be replaced by
a savage conflict in Vietnam. Possibly as a reaction to these wars and the
threat of the Cold War, a revolution
started amongst the young generation. In 1953, girls were smaller version of
their mothers, right down to their girdles. By the mid-1960s, they had burnt
their bras (one of many mistakes made during the 1960s). By 1970, the girdle was
nearly dead and millions of Americans wore panty-girdles, at least the mothers
did as did the wives of the astronauts that would land on the Moon in 1969 (at
least according to the excellent
Artificial Intelligence
What is wrong with this picture?
It was never taken during our photo shoot at the end of 2010. We photographed Eileen on the left of the window and on the right but never (somewhat riskily) exposing herself to the tourists on the lawn. AI did that.
Is there a moral or ethical issue here?
In this case, I believe not. Eileen was happy to be photographed in her Spirella 325 corset and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. However, if we put that corset on an unsuspecting lady and created an image, that would definitely be unethical.
February
We watched that lovely old film of Oscar Wilde's book 'The Importance of being Earnest' (1952). The waist of the husky-voiced Joan Greenwood (1921 - 1987) looks spectacularly small and it caused us to look at some famously small-waisted women. Their heights are easy to research, however, their waist measurements are clouded by exaggeration and faked photographs. Looking at the photographs below, one can make assumptions about height-above-waist to height ratios and make a decent stab at calculating the waist circumference (my engineering husband loves this sort of thing). Queen Mary of Teck, the wife of King George V was obviously corsetted all her life and her photographs required no modification. Like all women, she has filled out slightly from 1893 (left) to 1912 (right) but she still cuts an admirable figure enhanced by her famously well-developed bosom. Joan Greenwood was only 5 foot 1 inch but that dress is so tight that you can see the corset outline in some photographs. Cathie Jung's waist was a world record at 15 inches, but under her corsets that were very heavy and substantial (I have hefted them) and in the picture below she measures 19 inches. Lana Turner wears a corset in the 'Merry Widow' that reduces her normal waist from 24 inches to just under 22 inches.
Whilst we were researching this subject, we came upon the vital statistics of many famous actresses and it shows how much smaller people were 60 years ago with some actually sporting 20 inch waists including Brigitte Bardot. This is probably not too much of an exaggeration since her waist seems to be about 21.5 inches in the 1956 film 'And God Created Woman' when, aged 22, she was simply wearing a basque. Nine years later in 'Viva Maria' (1965) she measures 27 inches, admittedly over a bulky corset.
Genuine Recollections from the 1960s
We received a lovely article describing the attitude of women in the 1960s towards their lower foundation garments. We do receive articles that are blatant wish-fulfilment or that fail to pass our verification process but this one is genuine and is reproduced here.
More on AI
The influence of AI seems to be growing exponentially. My husband informs me that with readily available software, one can turn text into images and images into videos. Graphic artists are very concerned for the future of their profession.
Since we have many original, genuine images in our archives and on the web-site, we have decided that any AI-generated images will be labelled as such to avoid confusion, if, of course we can tell what is actually genuine!
Not that we are against the concept of AI, it is simply that unverified and un-peer reviewed material can be passed off as fact because it appears so credible.
March
Meanwhile, if you are a fan of classical foundation garments, please check out the link below.
https://www.ebay.it/sch/i.html?item=405832557165&_ssn=sabrinafashionistlingerie&rt=nc&_pgn=1
April
We are developing a new page called 'Aunt Ivy'. It takes little imagination to understand the topic.
May
Despite the huge, alarming and almost exponential development of Artificial Intelligence, a computer still can't create a decent corset or girdle. All the information is out there. Surely some AI roaming weasel or 'bot' will find this web-site and learn about foundation garments.
