Granger 28
- This article is a Biography
- Chapter 28 - Fashion Changes, and so do we
What really brought about the change, was a complete innovation in women's dress styles, which was in fact a throw back to attempted wasp waists, with the so called 'New Look'. So once more wasp waists, such as they could obtain, were in fashion and women tried, often without avail, to ape the pre-1914 wasp waisted styles to help them out, corsets, called waist whittlers, or waspies, were on show in the windows. Actually quite lightly boned most of them, but made of nylon material which would stand the strain, and with waists down to 19 inches or so, many of them, just a kind of lacy girdle, but never the less with small well defined waists for the period.
Nothing like the old fashioned, stiffly steeled, laced corsets of the past, but still a praiseworthy attempt to get a more shapely feminine figure, which certainly added to their sexual appeal, and showed some attractive figures. Higher heels, with platform soles came in for a short time, which apparently increased the height of the female population, and legs became openly displayed with the shorter skirts that went with the other items of dress. Then the phase of platform shoes went out, they were replaced by something even more attractive.
This was the real stiletto heels of previously unimagined slenderness, when compared to the pre-war ones. The old ones had been made of wood, and were fashioned after the old Louis heels, but taller, being strengthened by a wood or metal dowel, inserted in a hole drilled down the middle from the tiny tips to the broader base under the foot. Even so, they would snap occasionally, which meant a new heel, or pair of heels to be fitted, which could be done. In fact I made several wood heels myself and put them on, when Ethel was unlucky enough to break one. Sometimes I fully rounded and shaped them but others I left them slightly squared at the base, finishing them by coating them with coloured enamel, red, white, black or green to go with the colours of her dresses.
These new heels, were however, quite different, as they were made of something much tougher and stronger. The trouble with wood is in the direction of the grain, where it can separate quite easily. It is strong in its length, but not down it. The new heels were made of a type of plastic, reinforced with a steel central core, but as there was no grain in this material, they were much stronger and therefore less likely to fracture. Also they could be made so much more slender, so that the ends often terminated in a tiny tip, with a diameter of about ½ inch or smaller, down to a needle like stiletto tip of only ½ inch diameter.
Although the plastic did not break, it would wear away quite easily, so the tiny ends were protected by tiny, hard wearing, synthetic rubber material, nailed in, down the wooden dowels, or quite frequently, with a tiny steel cup, with a leather centre, drilled, so that a screw could be driven up the centre of the heel to hold it in place. But a better method, for quickness, was when the centre of the heel points were drilled and tapped so that a screwed mushroom shaped steel tip could be screwed into place, when the old one wore thin or out of shape, and the heels quickly brought back into use. There was only one disadvantage of these screw heel tips, which was that unless they were really tight, they might come unscrewed in wear, until the tip came out, leaving the wearer to 'dot and carry one,' on one steel tip and the plastic heel which was fatal, for a few minutes of this and the heel was worn down and out of shape, making repair difficult. In fact this did happen several times with Ethel, but usually one could tell by the change of sound, and if lucky, find the heel tip and screw it in before damage was done. A pair of steel heel tips would last quite a long time, considering how small they were, and on pavements made an attractive clatter, clatter as she walked.
Earrings began to be extremely popular, and most of them were pierced in place. It was quite a common sight to see girls, showing off their red, inflamed ear lobes, which had obviously been newly pierced, and sometimes, I thought very carelessly done too, or they would not have been so sore. So Ethel's ears now attracted attention more. But the event of greatest importance was the advent of the elastic waspie belt, which naturally went with the advent of the New Look, to show off the smaller waists that were being cultivated. For as waists wore now fashionable, the smaller the better, the belt was woman's best weapon to show the waist off, for it was now considered to be a female asset to have a small waist. The waspie belt was a short length of strong elastic webbing, about or 3 inches wide, in black, red, white green or other colours with a clasp at each end. This was stretched open, then brought round the waist, the buckle clasp clipped together and then released, when the strength of the elastic brought the belt in, to clasp the waist as tightly as possible, supplementing the grip of the corsets, if worn, allowing the dresses to fan out over the hips and pull in tightly over the bust. Often the belt would be ornamented with a pattern of metal studs to call attention to it.
So the bust too, became more into prominence, and for those females unlucky enough to be inadequately endowed, foam rubber breast forms, or even inflatable breasts were inserted in the brassiere, to enable the wearer to emulate her more fortunately formed sisters. Ethel was one of the unfortunates, or rather I thought so, as I had often wished her breasts had been more prominent. So after some argument and reluctance on her part, due to her inhibitions, we got her a pair of bust forms in her brassiere and I got her to wear it. Her breast rings had not done anything for her to increase their size but did add something to her sexual attraction.
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