Winter Drawers On...

That's not a typo - every Autumn Grandad would say "It's turning cold" and Nana would reply "Winter drawers on!" then they'd have a daft discussion about underwear. Being born at the end of the Victorian era, Nana always referred to her knickers as "drawers"

In the 1800s a woman would wear two separate 'legs' which had a casing at the top and a tape to draw them together at the waist. Hence a pair of drawers. 

To this day, even though we wear just the one garment, we still refer to a pair of... [pants/knickers/briefs etc] *

The other mystery of 'old lady underwear' in my childhood were the adverts at the back of Woman's Weekly for Directoire Knickers - which I thought were directory knickers. 

 A single garment, usually pink, cream or peach coloured with legs elasticated just above the knee. After the Victorians, the Edwardians wore slimmer more fitted garments, not voluminous crinolines. Women wanted underwear which fitted closer to the body - especially when the "roaring twenties" came along. The name comes from the "directoire" - a neo-classical style popular in France [1795 to 1799] between the elaborate ornate style of Louis XVI and before the "Empire Style".

This style persisted through the war years, issued as part of the uniform for women in the forces. although the legs did get a bit shorter. By the early 60s many of us had to wear "PE knickers" which had elasticated legs [mine were hideous bottle green and itchy] and grannies still wore the peachy bloomers. My friend Jean always referred to them as "Harvest Festival Knickers" - because she said "All is safely gathered in"

But now so many styles abound, with different names...M&S offers full briefs, high cut, thongs, bikini briefs, Brazilian, no VPL, midi, Miami, shapewear, shorts, period knickers...My decluttering got a bit haphazard last week, but I did sort my knicker drawer. 

Mum and Auntie Peggy always insisted on decent pants

"In case you get knocked down by a bus". Cousin Gill and I suspected their mother had drummed this into them. We said that if we were unfortunate enough to be in such an accident, we did not want the medical team distracted by our attractive underwear! By the the children came along, and finances were tight, I kept my old white Sloggis till they were were repaired, and rather grey. And then one day sorting laundry, LIz lectured me about their parlous state. "Nobody sees me in them except your father  "Just because you have got your man, that does not excuse you wearing shabby underwear. Mum!" I really took that to heart, and have tried to wear better ones ever since. I have regularly bought new pants, and put them in the drawer, leaving the shabby ones underneath 'in case of an emergency'. What emergency is that? And I do not need twenty five pairs!  I have been ruthless - down to 18 pairs now, and those with weak elastic, holes and ladders, and uncomfortable gussets have gone in the bin. And I suspect others may follow. 
I did check the internet - it seems the average UK woman owns 25 pairs, and many sites recommend at least 14 so you have a clean pair daily for a fortnight. I appreciate sportswomen will wear more than one pair a day - after a run, or game of football, they'd want fresh undies. But I am more sedentary, less sweaty!

Worst ever pants - [1] the pack of seven 'days of the week' ones when I was 5. I got them in the wrong order, and realised one day I was wearing 'Wednesday' on 'Thursday' I was sure everyone in my class knew. [2] the paper disposable ones, in a pack of 3, bought from Etam in the early 70s. I pulled them up too fast and the elastic waistband completely came away!

Do you have any BRIEF comments?

*in Tudor times, upper garments were often two-piece, front and back, tied at the sides, and called 'a pair of bodies' - but that turned into the term 'bodice'