So I was watching Charlie Chaplin's 1914 comedy "Laughing Gas" and one of the gags was Charlie accidentally tearing the skirt off of actress Alice Howell. See the film here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GPgYwuCHk
I thought that the bloomers on the actress were gym bloomers as the fashionable underwear in 1914 was sexier and more revealing. Maybe the film costumer went with funny over sexy to avoid censure. A later scene has Helen Carruthers falling over showing her legs and the same style of bloomers.
A little "research" in my files turned up 1914 newspaper ad for lingerie patterns.
A little more research turned up these images from 1911 to 1920.
The image below was definitely a gym costume but not meant to wear on the street.
Below.."one tough cookie."
So it seems that bloomers as underwear were another style in the early 1910s apart from cycling bloomers meant to be seen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GPgYwuCHk
I thought that the bloomers on the actress were gym bloomers as the fashionable underwear in 1914 was sexier and more revealing. Maybe the film costumer went with funny over sexy to avoid censure. A later scene has Helen Carruthers falling over showing her legs and the same style of bloomers.
A little "research" in my files turned up 1914 newspaper ad for lingerie patterns.
A little more research turned up these images from 1911 to 1920.
So it seems that bloomers as underwear were another style in the early 1910s apart from cycling bloomers meant to be seen.
Thinking about it..it´s about time they came back into fashion. Sexy but paractical.Easy to make....
ReplyDeleteYou take the US market and I´ll deal with the european market
Cheers
paul
do you want to be a "bloomers creator", Paul ?
ReplyDeletenice pants ! maybe a good idea!
(if I remember, my daughter when she was a baby wore such pants which were called "bloomers" !)
The adult women's bloomers are not like the "pantalons ouverts" that were a common style from 1850s to 1930s.
DeleteI can see the use of the garment in the USA with our more ample ladies. Europe, no.
ReplyDelete