It’s a fact that many young women today have had no experience with girdles. Slips, half-slips, pantyhose are relegated to the archaic and looked on as artifacts of a by-gone age, an age where convention usually prevailed and comfort took a back seat.
Time was when we got dressed up to go downtown. Can you imagine? And, to go to church, we wore our best, our best shoes, hair shampooed and curled, make-up on. That was also in the day when waitresses wore sharply ironed white uniforms and starched aprons and little head bands. Nurses always wore crisp white uniforms and in Catholic hospitals, the nuns wore long, traditional habits. Men’s jeans were starched and ironed, the pant legs had sharp creases.
Coming home after church or any other dress-up occasion was a relief. Off came the girdle. Off came the shoes! Ah-h. To be able to breathe when sitting and walk without hurting, to be ourselves!
As I think back to those days, I wonder if today’s casual outlook is better. 
Does it reflect an attitude change toward bursting illusions and honesty or is it a trend toward sloppiness and a don’t care mindset? One thing I’ve noticed as the years have passed, the way we dress, our manner of speech is more direct. Sometimes, though, I miss those old days when we tried a little harder to look, act, and speak as well as we could. Those standing up girdles and sitting down shoes were uncomfortable but important. Was it in the 1960s that the phrase, “Let it all hang out” became popular? Perhaps we shouldn’t. Maybe we used to present a false facade or maybe it was how we viewed ourselves; whatever it was, there are times when I miss it.
Me too, Blanche, but how I hated to wear a hat. ‘The Hat’, was tailored to match my Sunday best, blue suit. We walked down the old coach road and over the river bridge to church, I lagged behind and tossed ‘The Hat’ over the bridge, swift currents swept it away, never to be seen again. I got ‘the look’ from Mother and another hat, knitted by an aunt, her choice of wool was as colorful as her personality.
I loved your word picture, Josephine. Thanks for writing.
I am from that era – which is actually called “The Golden Age of girdles”. Women daily were always in a vintage. Being in a well fitted girdle you did not just look good, but you also felt great, the support of a decent well fitted girdle was amazing, sitting standing and just getting around well girdled, you found you had much more energy and confidence. What is interesting back during the “Golden Age of Girdles”, being daily in a vintage girdle was a “Women’s Best Kept Secret”. Sadly due to political propaganda and false information about the real benefits that vintage girdles does give you this infomation for most women have been lost.
What you say certainly makes a great deal of sense. My mother believed in girdles and told me that she thought one would help my back. I, of course, being young and knowing everything, thought they would not be comfortable. But now that I’m older, I’m seeing more and more that she was right, as usual. Trouble is, it’s really hard to find a good girdle now. I think not wearing one is contributing to the popular slouchy look.