Introduction |
This is a conservative site in more ways than one, it serves as a source fashion images and information from the later half of the last century concentrating on figure shaping garments. The images are of the sort one might find in advertisements of the age, if you are looking for material of a more dubious nature then please look elsewhere.
The image libraries are presented as sets of thumb-nails - click on the thumb-nail to view the full size image but be warned that the files are anything from 30K to 140K in size so may take a while to be displayed if you have a slow link. If supported by the browser, the full size images should now be displayed in new window.
If you have any comments, information, corrections or wish to exchange similar images that are not already available on the web please contact the editor by clicking on the Mail button at the foot of the page.
Though the most recent changes do include images the primary purpose was to increase the information content any future updates will reflect this.
Thank you to all those who have constructive or supportive messages to The Girdle Foundation.
Enjoy your visit.
Revision History
07-Jan-00 | A pre-release version named "The Foundation" with 1950's fashion and foundations published. |
27-Jan-00 |
The first release version, renamed to "The Girdle Foundation",
Silhouette and 1960's image pages created.
However the site passes largely un-noticed with less than 4 visitors per week in the subsequent 3 months. |
22-Apr-00 |
Silhouette page II created to reduce the waiting time for thumb-nails. 3 images added to the Silhouette page and a few minor corrections to text and graphic images. |
30-May-00 (withdrawn) |
1970's images page created. Silhouette's advertising document created and linked from Silhouette page I. Images added to Silhouette pages and an active image added to the Dark Room. Graphic images updated, revision history added and minor corrections to documents. |
01-Jun-00 | The previous release was withdrawn after a sequence of annoying and irrelevant E-mails and by the un-authorized use of original material from this web-site. Any re-occurrence will result in The Girdle Foundation becoming a closed site or shutting down altogether. |
24-Aug-01 |
Major revision of the web-site incorporating the 30-May-00 changes. The 50's page additional information and corrections and Foundation Fit article added. New Silhouette advertising copy page created. Updated Other Places and new History Lessons section. New What's in a Name table added to this information page. |
The image files are systematically named, the first two digits indicate the year, the second two letters indicate the manufacturer or brand name and the last 4 characters uniquely identify the file. If the date not accurately known then only the decade is identified. To maintain compactness and portability the files are all in JPG format.
For example, 72si012a.jpg
describes an image from 1972 of an item made by Silhouette.
Considerable effort has gone into the correct attribution of manufacturer/brand name to an image so visitors to this site are requested not to change the names of any downloaded files.
The identification table below provides is a list of the 2 letter codes used by the Girdle Foundation and also provides a little extra information. Wherever possible the details relate to the original country, location and date of the foundation of a company even if the company did not initially make foundation wear or the brand name was not used until later. A selection of the more prominent model and style names are also listed in approximate chronological order. Some of the names those allied to the fashion industry, such as DuPont's fibre division and Talon zip fasteners, that also made related advertisements.