Popular Culture Review Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2003 | Page 46
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Popular Culture Review
remedy more suitable for an older generation.
The woman who was able to match the fashion image without artificially
manipulating her body was rare. Soft, fluid fabrics made possible by new technol
ogy inspired changes in the fashion silhouette that underscored women’s newly
won political emancipation, even as they helped her to feel feminine. Sexy linge
rie, made not only in lightweight silks but also from inexpensive rayon, was avail
able to a broader range of consumers. But despite free spirits and flowing lines,
most women still needed contrived control to achieve the modish figure. By 1923
Vogue announced the corset to be “extremely unfashionable.” It had “totally dis
appeared.” “Yet,” admitted the editor, “it would be wrong to think that the number
of women who wear no corset at all, a practice which every woman would have us
think she adhered to, is very large.” (Probert 18). An article in The Delineator
described the wide variety of foundation garments available in 1926:
The younger woman who can keep slim and firm with h