Sexy Lingerie Then and Now

When most of us think of sexy lingerie, we call to mind thongs, lacy panties, lace-covered bustiers, satin camisoles and see-through undergarments. However, what is considered sexy nowadays wasn’t always what was considered to be sexy in earlier times. Lingerie is nothing new. Women have always had to wear undergarments to support their figures — ever since Victorian times at least. However, you might be surprised to learn some of what was considered sexy back then versus now.

Victorian Era

The Victorian era was all about the female silhouette. Women wore big dresses that emphasized the waist, so having a shapely waist was imperative to looking good in their everyday clothing. There were different types of corsets that were considered sexy. First was the whalebone corset that focused on getting the waist as tiny as possible. Then along came the S-curve corset that arched the back and pushed the breasts up and out to accentuate the chest. In Victorian times, women also wore open-crotch panties, which are considered sexy now, but back then that wasn’t why they wore them. They wore them out of necessity since it made going to the bathroom easier in a huge dress.

Early 1900s

In the early 1900s around the decade of the 1910s, closed-crotch panties were all the rage for women. Women were slowly advocating to gain more rights both politically and in how they dressed, and before closed crotches were only allowed to men. Suddenly it became sexy for women to wear closed crotches. Sheer nightgowns were also a sexy type of lingerie (and they still are today). In the 1920s, the female silhouette was traded in for a straighter, more boyish figure, and that’s when slips became the in thing. When the 1930s hit, sexy underwear was again crotchless but this time because it was considered sexy and not out of necessity. Since then hot lingerie has continued to evolve and get skimpier and skimpier until we are where we are today where sexy types of lingerie can constitute something as little as a thong.