petticoat

Bourne & Hollingsworth Ltd

Summary

Pale salmon pink twilled rayon; tubular shape; straight top edge, elastic at sides; narrow shoulder straps, top edged in fawn lace with pattern of concentric semi-circles; front extending to side back in one section, extension on hip pleated to short horizontal openwork seam each side of low waist; centre back in one straight section; hem scalloped; woven label "Bourne & Hollingsworth LTD / OXFORD ST, W.1".

Display Label

This stylish petticoat is made of peach coloured rayon, an artificial silk which first became popular for underwear and dresses in the 1920s, and which was a cheaper alternative for more luxury fabrics. However, rayon was also used for expensive lingerie such as this slip, retailed by the department store, Bourne & Hollingworth Ltd, on Oxford Street in London, or by D H Evans, as in the advertisement below, where an art silk slip cost 9 shillings and 11 pence, and a silk one 15 shillings and 11 pence. The fawn lace, which trims the neckline, is designed with a pattern of concentric semi-circles, influenced by the Art Deco style promoting the "moderne" fashion for geometric, angular and dramatic shapes and colours. This petticoat combines the twin novelties of the newly available rayon with the deco geometric decoration, and it would have been absolutely up-to-the-minute in fashionable terms, very different to the heavy white cotton underwear worn by most women previous to the First World War.