Date: c. 1920s
Origin: Russia
Fabric: Rayon blend brocade satin, cotton lining
Brand: Custom made
A short girdle with a button and loop side closure and back lacing. The girdle is in poor condition, with the cotton lining disintegrating and the few bones that would have originally given this garment structure removed. The points at the front of the girdle were likely originally connected to suspenders, which have since been removed (perhaps to reuse the parts on another garment, or because the original elastic had perished).
Shorter girdle styles like these were a dramatic departure from the extra long corsets that dominated the the early 1910s. These shorter corsets offered the wearers a much greater flexibility in movement, in line with the shifting womenswear fashions and move to shorter hemlines and less restrictive cuts.
From the collection of Karolina Laskowska
