An intimate affair : women, lingerie, and sexuality

392 Pages·2007·6.73 MB·English

by  Fields

AN INTIMATE AFFAIR
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
contribution to this book provided by the General Endowment Fund
of the University of California Press Foundation.
An Intimate Affair
WOMEN, LINGERIE, AND SEXUALITY
JILL FIELDS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press,one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States,enriches lives around the world by advanc-
ing scholarship in the humanities,social sciences,and natural sciences.
Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philan-
thropic contributions from individuals and institutions.For more infor-
mation,visit www.ucpress.edu.
The following chapters were previously published in different form and
appear here courtesy of their original publishers:chapter 1 as “Erotic
Modesty:[Ad]dressing Female Sexuality and Propriety in Open and
Closed Drawers,1800–1930,”Gender & History14,no.3 (November
2002):492–515;and also in Carole Turbin and Barbara Burman,eds.,
Material Strategies:Dress & Gender in Historical Perspectives(London:
Blackwells,2003);chapter 2 as “‘Fighting the Corsetless Evil’:Shaping
Corsets & Culture,1900–1930,”Journal of Social History33,no.2
(Winter 1999):355–84;and in Beauty & Business:Commerce,Gender,
and Culture in Modern America,ed.Philip Scranton (New York:Rout-
ledge,2001),109–41;and chapter 4 as “From Black Venus to Blonde
Venus:The Meaning of Black Lingerie,”Women’s History Review15,
no.4 (September 2006):611–23,www.tandf.co.uk/journals.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles,California
University of California Press,Ltd.
London,England
© 2007 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fields,Jill.
An intimate affair :women,lingerie,and sexuality / Jill Fields.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-520-22369-1 (cloth :alk.paper)
isbn978-0-520-25261-5 (pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Lingerie—History. 2.Women’s clothing—History. 3.Clothing
and dress—Symbolic aspects. 4.Clothing and dress—Erotic aspects.
5.Advertising—Fashion. I.Title.
GT2073.F54 2007
391.4’209—dc22 2006021747
Manufactured in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r1997) (Permanence of Paper).1
to
valerie and jerry fields
and to the memory of
my grandmothers
mildred rosenstein schwartz (1902–1998)
helen pollock fields (1906–1985)
and
tillie marder boxbaum (1895–1968)
(who wore it)
and to
mabel durham fuller (1902–1999)
(who also sewed it)
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction. Sexual Foundations 1
1. Drawers 18
2. Corsets and Girdles 47
3. Brassieres 79
4. The Meaning of Black Lingerie 113
5. The Invisible Woman: Intimate Apparel Advertising 174
6. The Production of Glamour: Intimate Apparel Workers and
Union Culture 217
7. Return of the Repressed (Waist), 1947–1952 256
Epilogue.Bra vs. Bra:Feminist Intimate Apparel Art 272
Notes 289
Index 361
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Illustrations
1. Petticoat ad,1906 6
2. Broadway brassiere and brief ad,1991 7
3. Early twentieth-century open-crotch drawers 20
4. Joan Crawford in Our Dancing Daughters,1928 21
5. “A Street View,”The Weekly Rake,1842 29
6. Open-crotch trousseau set,1904 35
7. Corset covers and drawers,Eaton’s catalog,1908 38
8. Billie Burke and Roland Young in Topper,1937 44
9. American Lady corset ad,1914 51
10. Sports-corset ad,1918 52
11. Elastic girdle ad,1921 60
12. “Catch her young”foundation ad,1946 72
13. “Slim-E-Fect”corset ad,1930 77
14. Turn-of-the-century monobosom 82
15. De Bevoise brassiere ad,1914 84
16. “Flattening effect”bandeau,1921 88
17. “Foremost fashion experts,”1950 96
18. Warner’s “Alphabet”brassiere ad,1946 100
19. Bust-forms ad,1935 104
20. Renée/Jezebel of Hollywood ad,1946 111
21. Caricature of “La Belle Hottentote”and her French
spectators,1814 119
ix