The history of French lingerie highlights the evolution of the way women are viewed, in each era. It is marked by feminine conquests, industrial visions, innovations, beautiful materials, artisanal meticulousness, talents, creations, models, audacity, social metamorphoses, know-how, excellence, seduction, elegance, refinement...
1850
Halfway through the century of Romanticism, France is recovering from the revolution of 1848. The Second Empire chases away the Restoration. Gustave Flaubert tells how Madame Bovary ruins herself to be fashionable in Paris.
Under the crinoline dresses, women's trousers became widespread while Worth invented haute couture and dressed the Empress Eugénie.
1880
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Thirty years later, secular schooling became compulsory. The first high schools and colleges for girls were built. Ladies' suits appeared. Paris let loose in the music hall and applauded the frou-frou dancers. White wedding dresses, long the preserve of cities, conquered the countryside. |
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The corset became established and protected the female body. It was also increasingly criticized by hygienists. Louis Neyron knew this and founded Maison Rasurel in 1884 to develop the concept of health underwear, developed by Dr. Rasurel. In the meantime, Mr. Gamichon founded Chantelle and created the first elastic fabric for corsets. For his part, Doctor Bernard was preparing to create the company that would be renamed, decades later, Aubade.
1900
At the beginning of the century, sitting on Thonnet chairs, people liked to say that the recent Eiffel Tower represented a woman's leg covered in fishnet stockings, and that its four pillars were the attachments of a garter belt.
Guimard's metro stations are emerging from the ground. The line is S-shaped. Curves are fashionable. Paul Poiret joins Worth in 1901. Suspenders replace the garter. Stockings remain black.
1910
Silent cinema enters the capital, while the Russian ballets oscillate between scandals and successes. Paul Poiret bans the corset in favor of an inner belt for his Empire dresses. The legendary pleats of Mariano Fortuny appear.
Women are increasingly replacing corsets with elastic belts. Rubber springs are replacing the boning of corsets.
Bandeaus and bras flatten the chest. The word bra enters the dictionary. In 1913, a bra separating the two breasts is invented. At the same time, a bra made of two triangles crossed in front and back is launched. The first bras are made of linen before being made, from the twenties, of silk, muslin or batiste.
1920
The First World War brought a definitive end to the nineteenth century, which did not know how to bow out. The 1920s tried to make people forget the conflict. People danced the Charleston. Jazz made an unexpected appearance. The surrealists published their first manifesto. Freudian theses invaded people's minds. The era marked the start of the decorative arts.
In search of unhindered movement, the woman completes her silhouette with short hair. The flattening bra for a flat bust, the floating slip and the flesh-colored and silver silk stockings make the flappers' heyday.
1930
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The system of bra cup sizes is developed. The long dress and the bias cut are imposed. The neoclassical silhouette is reinvented. The bust, "as liar as a bra", experiences a revival. Nylon is invented. The word slip makes its way. Mademoiselle Simone Pérèle obtained her corsetry diploma in 1935. The same year, the beautiful Joséphine Baker stole the hearts of all Paris in the film Princesse tam.tam, which would later inspire the Hiridjee sisters, founders of the eponymous company. |
1945
Exhausted by the Second World War, France is gradually recovering. French women are granted the right to vote. Simone de Beauvoir is hailed for The Second Sex. The new look is born.
The Chantelle sheath slips into it, tapering the hips with softness and lightness. The breast is worn high, the waist is wasp-shaped and the skirt corolla-shaped. The fashion for the petticoat takes off while the wasp-waisted corset is invented. The bikini is launched.
Simone Pérèle stands out for taking aesthetic criteria into account by creating satin bras, cut and then assembled in the workshop on rue Montyon. Charles Fossez, known as the "Burmese Fakir", astrologer and star of the Parisian elite, already sells Barbara girdles by mail order.
André Faller has been Lucienne's Pygmalion for several years, with whom he created the company Lou. The look and comfort are associated with a frame that is barely felt. Lou was already one of the leaders of French corsetry.
Empreinte has launched its most famous bra: deeper cups, with a “revolutionary lifting effect”.
1955
Brigitte Bardot stirs up all the fantasies while on the other side of the Atlantic, Marilyn Monroe lets the shameless breath of the New York subway reveal her legs to an America that is still far too puritanical and conservative. Gabrielle Chanel's suit confronts Christian Dior's new look. The baby doll and lycra enter the scene.
Stiletto heels are worn with seamless stockings. The three depths A, B and C already announce the cups D, then E, which Mesdames Tardivelle and Haug will develop.
At that time, Simone Pérèle created dozens of bra models that would last up to twenty years. By combining comfort and aesthetics, she launched the "Soleil" bra with clips as well as the "Sole Moi", the first lycra bra.
1965
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The baby boomers are flooding in with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the twig model Twiggy, the contraceptive pill, May 68... All are converging towards an unprecedented generational meeting: Woodstock. Yves Saint Laurent designs his famous tuxedo. The first miniskirts arrive. Tights experience their first success. Flesh tones go out of fashion. Panties are adopted by the new generation. |
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At the dawn of ready-to-wear, Chantelle designs ultra-feminine bras, peppering them with "fashion" details. Empreinte launches the first strapless bra.
1970
The seventies are synonymous with the conquest of new rights by women. The film Emmanuelle symbolizes the wave of erotic cinema. A new generation of couturiers asserts itself.
Trousers have now become part of our customs while panties have been abandoned. The T-shirt stands out by becoming alternately underneath or on top. Underwear leaves room for the body by revealing it more and more: low-rise briefs, preformed, transparent or even absent bra cups.
Chantelle signs its first molded bra that finally offers a natural and perfectly supported bust. The "Fête" model becomes a bestseller for the house. Aubade launches the first backless bra, then continues the creations intended to allow women to tease men: the Agrafe Cœur, the Tanga.
1980
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The eighties ushered in the cult of the body, the arrival of high-tech, and the emergence of new idols. With Like a Virgin, Madonna stood up to Michael Jackson who was already changing face. The superwomen were here. Paddings, briefs, bodysuits and tight dresses invade the windows of the new ready-to-wear brands. The bra blows out its hundred candles. Lycra sneaks in everywhere. Charming lingerie follows the path opened by the camisole, the thong, the corset and the suspender belt. |
Chantelle offers active women “charming support”.
1990
Silicone lips, liposuction and supermodels are the headlines of the nineties. Perfumes invade fashion houses. International brands explode. A generation of fashion's enfants terribles breathes new life into haute couture.
The Wonderbra wins the prize in the push-up bra category. The push-up bras climb onto the podium. Butt-lifting tights are becoming more popular. Simone Pérèle's "Amelia" microfibre bra is a success. The moulded models that give a natural bust become the must-haves of her collections.
Microfiber mesh makes a successful debut at Chantelle with Essensia. With Divine, Chantelle asserts its mastery of innovation in shell models and goes international by becoming the leading high-end French lingerie brand in the world. The saga of Aubade's "Lessons in Seduction" begins and announces ready-to-seduce.
2000
| From the 2000s onwards, heels knew all the heights. The stiletto set a record. Jumpsuit dresses, superpositions were combined with transparency and tattoos. The era was one of excess. The world of the night prevailed over the clarity of the day. |
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Microfiber is asserting itself. Active and sporty lingerie is becoming more democratic. The second-skin effect provided by seamless, invisible bras with molded cups and almost transparent bands of impalpable lingerie is emerging.
Empreinte offers “generous busts” the depth of the G cup, while Aubade launches the smallest thong in the world. The next pages of the history of French lingerie will be written by you. Textile innovation will continue to play a leading role, always knowing how to fade behind the hand of the creators, preferring to serve the author rather than attract the light to oneself.
Provided that the chic and free spirit, the very Parisian elegance, the French Touch that cannot be explained, continue to disturb the world, at random with a gesture, an attitude, a look, a "je ne sais quoi" so French and whose secret we will jealously guard for a long time to come.