1960s Catalogs, did the Fantasy ever become Reality

[Robbiegirl]

Many people have mentioned over the years enjoying looking through the Sears and Penney's Catalogs. My question here is when you first developed the fascination for these frilly items did you ever get the opportunity to actually try them on or did you have to wait till decades later ?
The pictures below show how colorful so many of the items were ! Darn white slips was all I had access to !

If you did was the experience as much fun as you had hoped ? Do you remember the color or length or any details of the item ?

Oh to be young again !! 320957
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[BrendaPDX]

White slips was all I had access to, but I love the full length ones.

[Stephanie47]

"Darn white slips was all I had access to!"

I'm right with you. Although my parents did not get any catalogues they did subscribe to Life and Look magazines. I would linger at those pages offering undergarments. Our family always bought the New York Daily News which only had advertisements in black and white. My mother wore white slips which I would try on when I had the chance. I've related many times how I would take them down off the wash line. She did have one black slip, but by the time I started perusing her lingerie draws in her bedroom the black slip was too small.

There was two women's store in Astoria, Queens that were on opposite corners at the intersection of Broadway and 32nd Street. I was always take a lingering glance at the mannequins adorned with bras, girdles and slips. In front of one of these stores there was a bus stop. I would "wait for the bus" which I had no intentions of getting on as an excuse to get a longer look at those mannequins.

Colorful slips seemed to be readily available going into the 1980's. Back then I wore a 38 suit jacket. I have many unworn slips in various colors with pretty lace in size 38. As I have grown to a size 42 or 44 I have acquired on ebay many many colorful slips. Anything in a pretty color in a larger size is subject to rabid bidding. Fortunately, I have not seen anything worth bidding on in the last five or six years. Last week I was digging into my wardrobe and came upon some very nice Nancy King slips in pastels; blue and pink that are still in their original packaging.

As to the advertisements I still will "google" subject material to bring up images of those ads of old. Sigh!

PS: Before Covid, when my wife and I did attend The Portland Expo and other antique sales, there were sellers of these advertisements. I collect WW2 aviation "Buy War Bonds", etc ads from national magazines. There were always boxes of these type of lingerie ads available. Ebay is also a source of these ads.

[LilSissyStevie]

To be honest, I think I looked at those catalogs for the same reason every other boy did: to see pretty women in their underwear.

[Karren H]

My grandmother had the greatest bra and girdle collection imaginable! And she lived near by us so I was always volunteering to go over and do some chores while she was at work!! Long line... open bottom... one piece... she had them all! Bras with more hooks than I could count! Lucky we wore about the same size too! Wish I had inherited them but think my sister got to them and probably threw them away!

[JulieC]

Oh yes! Those old catalogs! Ok yeah, like Stevie noted, it was an opportunity to see women in their underwear. But, I also would linger over those pages wishing...so wishing...I could dress like that. No opportunity ever arose until decades later.

Almost no one wears slips today. Almost a bygone era. I love slips, and have a decent collection. On occasion, my wife has raided my slips. There's a black slip with very pretty lace on it that she absconded with years ago. She won't let me have it back :)

Nowadays, the slips...you get three colors; black, beige, and white. I would be floored to see any other color these days, even if I found slips for sale (which is rare enough). Pantyhose are also becoming increasingly difficult to find. The last store in my town of 120,000 people that carried something other than grocery store pantyhose closed up shop a while back. TJ Maxx stopped carrying, Kohls stopped carrying, and on and on.

My mother had some beautiful ball gowns, but after she passed...I don't think I could have ever brought myself to wearing them, even if they did fit.

[Kelli_cd]

I longed for a woman who wore these undergarments. It wasn't until decades later that I ended up being the one to wear them!

[Alice Torn]

Must admit that i looked through them and also the dress sections, and the models were so beautiful and those hairdos were so much nicer then, too. I never have tried on a slip, though, which is strange!

[LydiaL]

At first I avoided looking at women?s dresses and lingerie in the catalogs. Not sure if I thought I would be struck by a lightning bolt, I would go blind, or whatever if I sneaked a peek!

Eventually I did start looking through those sections of the catalogs admiring the ladies and wondering just how the garments would look on me.

While I did try on my mom?s nightgowns and other lingerie on the sly, it would be a few years before I bought my own. Alas, squandered youth.

[Judy-Somthing]

I never liked the colored under garments except Red, Black, and my favorite ivory.

For those of us born in the 50s probably have more of a fondness for girdles, I do!

It must have been torture for woman to wear them for long periods of time.

My mother kept all the unused clothes in a spare room next to mine, so cool 60s dresses, bras, slips, girdles.

The most memorial girdle was a Playtex OB latex rubber girdle.

What a crazy idea, even though it had hundreds of tiny holes, you'd sweet like crazy!

Of course, being a CDer I loved it.

I see them on eBay selling for about $400.

[Lori Ann Westlake]

Robbiegirl, I never bought any of "my" clothes mail order, from Sears or anyone else. Apart from not wanting any telltale packages arriving while I was still living with my parents, I preferred to browse the stores anyway and take home what I wanted on the spot. I will say that J. C. Penney still has a lot of cute stuff in their stores in the way of outerwear, dresses especially. Our daughter thinks so too.

However, I have been around long enough that in the past I was able to buy slips in all kinds of colors: cute lacy full-length slips and half slips not just in black and white, but in pink, blue, red, yellow, you name it, and with all kinds of lace and frills. In fact I well remember assembling collections of certain slips in a full range of available colors, as and when I could afford them hack then in the impecunious days of my youth.

The decline of the slip is regrettable. Far fewer women are wearing them today. Most skirts are lined these days, eliminating the need for a slip, while scads of women are wearing pants anyway. Slips are still available of course, but in a narrower range of styles and colors. And there's less laciness, less femininity and frills. There are plenty of styles and colors in bras and panties, yes, but they're brazenly "sexy," while slips are more refined. There are few things more feminine and beautiful than a slip (including a half-slip), though the shapely elegance of a full-length slip reigns supreme. It combines the revealingly figure-hugging lines of an evening gown, with those delicate straps over the bare shoulders--but in addition, a slip is silky-smooth--and it's underwear, with everything that suggests.

If we want more colored slips, I guess we can resort to dyeing them--I've done that before with garments--but we could still use more frills and lace.

Incidentally I was casually browsing around a couple of stores recently for a nice nightgown, and I was disappointed there too. Everything I saw was grannyish, or else it was pajamas. I hope I just hit the stores at a bad time. We need more "floating femininity," more romance.


My grandmother had the greatest bra and girdle collection imaginable! [...] Long line... open bottom... one piece... she had them all! Bras with more hooks than I could count! Lucky we wore about the same size too!

Oh, you did have a "privileged upbringing," Karren! Not just a stepsister with lovely clothes to borrow, as you mentioned elsewhere, and a stepmother who strutted temptingly around in her bra and girdle (and her nylons and panties, no doubt), but all this to revel in as well! Bras with more hooks that you could count! With a front-fastening bra especially, this conjures up images of exploring fingers working their way slowly down those hooks, one by one... All very stimulating, I'm sure! Even "overstimulating," to a young teen! But irresistibly appealing to what Monty Python called "the naughtier type of person..."

[cdinmd206]

Oh how I loved looking at all the lingerie in the SEARS ROEBUCK and MONTGOMERY WARDS catalogs. I so wanted to wear some of them. When I was entering puberty I was staying with my aunt fro a few days and one time I inadvertently walked in on her as she was taking her dress off. I apologized and went to leave and she asked what I wanted. She was standing there in a white lacy full slip. As I started to say something, she pulled the slip over her head. As long as I live I will never forget the sight of her standing there in a white satin garter belt, beige stockings, white frilly see thru panties and white lacy pushup bra and she had huge boobs. I was totally mesmerized and had a natural reaction. She laughed an said I guess you like my lingerie. I could only nod my head. That was the beginning of a wonderful time as she turned me into her new niece

[Karren H]

Oh, you did have a "privileged upbringing," Karren! Not just a stepsister with lovely clothes to borrow, as you mentioned elsewhere, and a stepmother who strutted temptingly around in her bra and girdle (and her nylons and panties, no doubt), but all this to revel in as well! Bras with more hooks that you could count! With a front-fastening bra especially, this conjures up images of exploring fingers working their way slowly down those hooks, one by one... All very stimulating, I'm sure! Even "overstimulating," to a young teen! But irresistibly appealing to what Monty Python called "the naughtier type of person..."

Right! Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!! The list is endless as far as the "borrowing" opportunities I had growing up! lol Was it wrong to choose girlfriends based on her wearing the same size I did? The good old days!

I also remember while browsing the linger section of the Sears Catalogue, I would have the motorbike section marked with my finger and if anyone walked into the room I would flip over to the bikes... Can't remember which I wanted more, a 60cc Bridgestone Motorbike or a Playtex Living Bra and 18 hour girdle! or maybe riding a motorbike while wearing the bra and girdle?

[Crissy 107]

I can remember looking through the Sears catalog at all the lingerie like it was yesterday. I also remember hoping nobody saw me staring at all the beautiful models. I remember thinking how lucky they were, for several reasons.
I think that may have been my gateway to crossdressing

[DanielleDubois]

I used to love the Christmas season catalogues the best when I was a teenager because they would feature more of the sexier lingerie like Merry Widows and babydoll nightgowns. Like Karren I was always prepared to quickly turn the page away from the lingerie section. Way back then it was only a fantasy Danielle would be wearing sexy lingerie.

[candykowal]

I loved those catalogs as I spent a lot of time in my attic bedroom all dressed up looking through the pages for things I wanted.
I mostly got white camisoles and bras, short and full slips with an occasional black or leopard print.
I so loved the red and powder blues or the bra with the red rose between the cups.
Mom would also buy pink Northern toilet paper, rose shaped hand soaps, and lacey towels for the attic bathroom I used.
I remember showing Mom a plaid romper in the Ward catalogue.
It looked like something Marsha Brady wore on the Brady Bunch and that Fall, I found a similar item in the attic closet we shared, it fit me nicely!
All the colorful lingerie went out of fashion when I started college and we all were dressing like Madonna...like a virgin...you had to wear a white bra or you were a square!

[SaraLin]

Call me weird, I guess...

Back then, I was still pretty young (pre-teen), and did have a certain -um- boyish interest in the scantily clad women.

What really caught my interest was a just a few pages away.
I was captured by the section on young girls' clothes.
All the pretty things that girls my age got to wear was my weakness.
I imagined myself being able to get these things and wear them myself. I would imagine how they must feel and pretend that people would see me and comment on how pretty the girl looked in that outfit (I had an active imagination).

And no- back then I never did get to indulge. I don't remember anyone in the family ever getting anything from these catalogs.

[SissieScott]

Those catalogs were my escape from reality, and would spend hours thinking of the feel, the look. and the scantily clad women even ....desiring and thinking the women would accept me dressed with them. What made me even more curious is how well I may *fill it out* considering my gynecomastia that I affectionately refer to as my *Moobs* :D Between the *creepy* factor and only having access to my mother's nylon white granny panties and boring plain white slips, it wasn't until years later and left for college I would get to experience the different materials, colors, and styles.....best of all they were MINE.

[Lori Ann Westlake]

I would have the motorbike section marked with my finger and if anyone walked into the room I would flip over to the bikes... Can't remember which I wanted more, a 60cc Bridgestone Motorbike or a Playtex Living Bra and 18 hour girdle! or maybe riding a motorbike while wearing the bra and girdle?

The perfect marriage of male and female! Daisy, Daisy... on a motorbike made for two! :)

[Vickie_CDTV]

One of the reasons those Playtex rubber girdles are so expensive is that most have rotted away from age; they will often fall apart when stretched. Few survive today, though they do make rubber girdles in South America where they were popular a few years back.

Alas, by the late 1980s when I came of age, slips were only in black, white and beige. Their use started steeply declining in the mid to early 1990s. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find pretty slips in larger sizes (above a 42" chest.) My ex girlfriend used to dye her white slips all kinds of different colors, to match the colored slips she wore when she was younger. I fondly remember a mint green one.

Now in 2021 it is hard to find many things. A few popular brand name companies still made gartered stockings even a few years back, now I can only think of 2 and you have to buy them online. (Berkshire stopped making my favorite gartered stockings 2 years ago.) Most girdle companies stopped making them or went out of business (I can only think of 1 offhand.) National, a catalog that catered to mature women, had gartered stockings in many styles up until a few years ago; now they have 1 style of support pantyhose, 1 style of non-support pantyhose, and 1 style of knee highs. Guess the older women that still wore them regularly have now all died off. :sad:

[Teri Ray]

Like others here my window to the world was the Sears and Montgomerry Ward catalogs. I loved spending time looking at the beautiful women in their panties, bras and slips. Am I the only one who remembers that many of the sears catalogs listed their items as: Good, Better, Best. I can see a catalog picture with the ad reading. "Our Best Girdle Ever!"

[April Rose]

Yeah, those catalogs were source material for endless daydreaming for me.....:daydreaming:

[GretchenM]

I hear you April. I have wondered if my parents ever figured out why the women's section suffered the most wear and tear. They probably did and thought it was just the curiosity of a young boy. My, my how wrong they were. Sometimes really powerful stress built up, and not necessarily the sexual kind. We now know that as "Gender Dysphoria." It would bring tears to my eyes once in awhile.

[sue ellan]

it just makes your mouth water right?

[Robbiegirl]

Its always fun to see how lingerie fashions changed from one decade to another! I would gladly wear them all ! LOL
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[Stephj]

I also looked at the Sears and jc penny catalogs. I would admire the bras and panties. There was aways this pair of white nylon bikini panties with a sailboat on the rear that I would droll over and wish I had them

[docrobbysherry]

Back in the 50's and 60's I certainly admired the women in the Sears catalogues, Robbie! But, that was ions before I had any interest in women's clothing.
Except the desire to get the girls out of theirs!:devil:

Now, I'm too old to dream about those things. I just DO THEM!:battingeyelashes:

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[Jennifer in CO]

to answer your question - yes and yes. Its a long story, but the very short version is I was 14 turning 15 in the summer of 72. Grand dad had a heart attack and was on the mend but couldn't take care of the place so I was sent to spend the summer with him and Grand Ma and be the "gofer". Prior to this, I spent hours when I could gleaning the JCP and Sears catalogs. Well, one of Grand dad's community involvements was the local Community Chest (in Georgia). I got "volunteered" by him to help unload a couple of trucks and stock the items into storage. Turns out, the trucks I was unloading was full of the very unsold items from the aforementioned catalogs. My "pay" was if I found something I wanted I could take it home. Nobody said it was just one thing, so after 3 days, I had filled the back closet and chest of drawers in my room. As a different part of this story, after discovery, I did end up spending the entire rest of the summer with them as Jennifer (he even managed to get me a driver's license as Jennifer) and almost got to stay period but things didn't work out so I had to go back home as "me". Clothes weren't wasted, my cousin got a lot of it and the rest went back to the CC.

[Dana3]

Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Wards, JC Penny's,...........

And Rommans, Lame Bryant, and on occasion?
Frederick's of Hollywood.

All before I began to reach puberty and was even conscious of the "Difference " physically between boys and girls?

I've ALWAYS have been attracted to, and drawn to girls, women, and all things feminine. Even as a young boy!

Yet? I don't have any issues with being a male ~ man, cis-gendered, etc.

I simply like and prefer the company, friendship, any and all things feminine and in regards to femininity.

It goes BEYOND, just women's clothes, makeup and such? I very much want and desire my entire "House~Space" be overflowing with a "Women's ~ Feminine " touch.

So,........ I didn't just look at the "Women's Lingerie and Clothing" parts but also also the Home Interior parts of the catalog.

To this day? I still have a "Thing" for Women's Jewelry & Lingerie cabinets and such. Not to mention Women's Vanities. 🤩

In short? I like any and all things feminine.

[Christie ann]

I could spend hours looking at the Sears Christmas catalog with a finger buried with on the toys page in case some one looked. But, nothing ever came of it.

[Geena75]

I remember gazing at pantyhose pages and bodysuits (at a tender age when I didn't understand the difference in male vs. female anatomy). The pantyhose has definitely come true, but not the bodysuits.

[Georgina]

I used to love looking through the lingerie section of catalogues in the sixties and seventies. I used to despair that I would ever be able to wear all the lovely girdles, stockings and slips. I could never have imagined that I would eventually have my own collection of those desired items in all colours. The dream did come true.

[Cheryl T]

Since I too began with mom's things I was lucky that she had more than the usual white full slips.
She did have a nice array of lingerie including OBG's and lovely stockings. Later in H.S. and College when I could buy my own I did purchase some fabulous baby dolls which I adored. Lingerie catalogs were always a staple helping me to explore the clothing I preferred. I loved those "I dreamt I ... in my Maidenform bra" commercials.

[Star01]

My father ended up a widower and used to take a drive to a downtown book store every Sunday. He would leave me to browse the comic books and go into a back room for his ?special? books and magazines. I found those magazines in a dresser drawer and that was the end of the Wards, Sears and JC Penny catalogues for me. Something about the women in real black lace garters and stockings told me that I wouldn?t be needing the catalogues anymore for my inspiration.

[lingerieLiz]

I had most all of the lingerie pictured. It was great. I liked the long leg panty girdle, I had the whole set in five different colors: white, black, pink, light blue, brown, several had white lace on slip bottom. I also had a yellow slip which was a new material. Loved to drive with my dress or skirt showing a lot of lace back in the day. Without air women would pull their skirt up to be comfortable.

[susan2010]

I loved looking at the Sears catalog and ads in the magazines. And I had secretive access to my mother's slips and nightgowns. When I first got to college and had the opportunity I went to the big department stores in Philadelphia and bought myself a yellow full slip, half-slip, and panties. This was 1971. PS: I still LOVE slips.

[BobbiKay]

I also remember while browsing the linger section of the Sears Catalogue, I would have the motorbike section marked with my finger and if anyone walked into the room I would flip over to the bikes... Can't remember which I wanted more, a 60cc Bridgestone Motorbike or a Playtex Living Bra and 18 hour girdle! or maybe riding a motorbike while wearing the bra and girdle?

"I dreamed I rode my motorbike in my Maidenform bra!"

[sometimes_miss]

I started looking through the Sears catalogs in the mid 1960's, when I 'learned' that I was really supposed to be a girl. I'd carefully make a list of the clothes that I would be getting after god fixed me into the girl I was supposed to be.
The first were some girls dresses appropriate for a ten year old girl; later on, the foundation garments that I hoped would help shape my figure into something more resembling a female shape, the full body shaper with the front clip and zip up that made me able to fit into my older sister's dresses. As everyone in my house worked, I was able to mail order a few things and be sure that I was the only one that would be home early enough to intercept the package arriving in the mail before anyone else got home. I would run home from school every day, to check to see what might have arrived, or wait until the delivery man would come. The anxiety of wondering if the delivery man knew what was in the package always worried me.

[Ozark]

My sweet spot i remember an ad in the back of penthouse Forum magazine... yes, I used to read it for the letters..... Michael Salem's boutique, where your dreams become a reality...
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[Robbiegirl]

Oh If my sisters only knew ?? They would have fallen over laughing !

[alwayshave]

Robbie, I love those catalogue pages. God how I remember drooling over those pages.

[Michelle 51]

I remember babysitting for my cousin and his wife and when they came home I had left the catalog open to the lingerie section.They teased me over that one.They thought I was looking at the models but I was drooling over the lovely lingerie.

[CarlaWestin]

Oh my! There's a lot of my heart sisters on this post. As my mother would prance around the house in the morning completely ready in full lingerie, makeup and heels (everything except her dress) while she got us
all ready for school, I've always been mesmerised by fabulous foundation garments and the images in the department store catalogues. I don't see any problem with tooling around all day dressed like this, do you?

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[BaliGirl]

I loved those catalogs. One item I recall seeing did become a reality - the Flower Bali bra. I liked seeing them on the page, and now have two of them. By chance I'm actually wearing the black one :). (It is also my avatar picture).

[Lacy PJs]

[QUOTE=Lori Ann Westlake;4521100]Robbiegirl, We need more "floating femininity," more romance.

Amen Sister!

I look at the clothing that women wear today and wonder if this "equality" thing has gone too far. Women today just don't dress like ladies. Cotton, little lace, no hosiery... in many cases, it's just men's clothing with a slightly different cut. And with the advent of the"boyfriend shirt," sometimes there is even less of a difference.

Like others who have responded to the original post, I looked a lot at the Christmas catalogs from Sears & Penneys. But I have to admit that it was primarily to find lovely lady-like things for my better half. It was only later that I thought of these things for myself. Now, today, they are just not there. But maybe that is a good thing... if I could find the kinds of things that I would like, I would probably need a monthly government stimulus check!

I recently bought for my other half a short, white, double layer (chiffon over nylon) nightgown with matching sheer robe full of ribbons and lace. How I would LOVE to find something like that for myself! Bring back those catalogs, darn it! :)

Lacy PJs

[Linda E. Woodworth]

No, damn it!

I always went through the catalogues whenever they arrived but it was years before I started to "snitch" things to try them on.

But that's another story.....

[Alex!]

Yup. I remember well the Sears and JC Penney catalogues and found pleasure on considering what it would be like to wear forbidden garments. Then I checked out the Star Wars toys...

[Claire M]

You girls crack me up. I too was always waiting for the lightning to strike or suddenly going blind whenever I ventured into the lingerie section of the catalogs. Like Karen I always kept one finger in another section .. for me it was the model train section in case somebody came looking. I had 3 older brothers and I always feared that they would beat me up or at least ridicule me to my dying day if they ever caught me studying the lingerie pages. Interestingly after a couple months the catalogs would tend to fall open to either toys or lingerie so I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one looking. And yes I have been able to live out acquiring many of those items ... but I'm still looking for a bullet bra!!

[JulieC]

Claire; Secrets in Lace has an entire page dedicated to bullet bras: https://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Bullet_Bras

[Beverley Sims]

Catalogues have more realistic photos in them these days and do not rely on artists interpretations.

Some of the fantasy has disappeared but the clothes show a model that is realistic today.

[Vintage4sarah]

If you were to go back in time to when I was a teen, you would certainly see my "fingerprints" all over the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogues in my home. When I look back at that and other factors, it is no wonder I still have fetish for nylons and ladies undergarments. When I go back to those years, I can connect this to my dear female cousins and aunts who were classy dressers and other woman in my life that would have such an influence. Those catalogues would help solve the mysteries of what they wore underneath it all !

[Robbiegirl]

Catalogues have more realistic photos in them these days and do not rely on artists interpretations.

Some of the fantasy has disappeared but the clothes show a model that is realistic today.

You don't think these models are realistic and are over joyed to be able to dance around in panties, girdles, and slips ? LOL
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[Jamie1980]

I definitely spent time with the catalogs. I was entranced by the girdle section with the full figured women. I really wanted to be one :)

[Crissy 107]

Robbie, I would say they look like a happy bunch of models, why wouldn’t they be. I think the Sears catalog has a lot to do with my love of shape wear and undergarments. I am actually smiling thinking about it.

[dalearden]

I used to love looking at the slips, nightgowns (pink ones at that age!) and girdles...not sure why but always wanted a girdle...like the firm snug feeling of that and hose.

[BLUE ORCHID]

It was always great to see the big catalogs in the Mailbox,

[christine55]

Spent many hours perusing the catalogs. All the lovely clothes I so longed to be able to wear.

[MsEva]

Oh my gosh, the pastel colors are to die for! Love the old catalogs. It was like a window into the fem world.

[Sometimes Steffi]

It did for me. After a few times buying mail order with pick up at the mail order counter, I would check things out in the catalog and buy them in the store. At first it was hit and run. I bought a couple of leotards and matching tights. I eventually got a long line bra (back close - big mistake) and a LLP girdle. But my most exciting purchase was to get a matching set of panties, bra, cami and half slip. Just try doing that today!

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Claire; Secrets in Lace has an entire page dedicated to bullet bras: https://www.secretsinlace.com/category/Bullet_Bras

You can usually find them on eBay a lot cheaper.

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Robbie, I would say they look like a happy bunch of models, why wouldn’t they be. I think the Sears catalog has a lot to do with my love of shape wear and undergarments. I am actually smiling thinking about it.

I love shapewear because by the time I started dipping into my mom's lingerie drawer, her girdles fit me very tightly. I just got to love the compression.

[Lacey New]

I finally managed to get some lovely long white nylon slips and camisoles with lace trim at the hem and bodice from Velrose ( Shadowline) and a delightful white lace garter belt in retro style from Macy?s years ago but I have never beeen able to find much of anything in any colors except white or black. And yes, the lingerie sections of the Sears and Penney?s catalogs were every bit as exciting as an issue of Playboy.

[michellecd9999]

Growing up we got the JCP and Sears catalogs. I spent many hours looking through them and selecting wihich lingerie and dresses and shoes I would like. Fortunately. My mom had a lot of beautiful lingerie, clothes and shoes which I wore from age 12 to 22. When I married I used my wife?s things until I started collecting and buying my own.

[Robin777]

I spent considerable time looking at the women's section of the catalogs. Wishing I could wear what I was looking at. It took years before I got to actually get ahold of some of items from those catalogs in thrift stores.

[Lorna]

As a teenager those catalogues were a tremendous source of information and excitement, especially the sections on underwear because those were the mystery areas of female clothing to which, having no sisters or close female relatives, I had no access. In my late teens and afterwards, with a steady girlfriend and then fianc?e, although I didn't confess my special interest, I found it even more fascinating when she would sit down with one of those catalogues and look through it, picking out items that interested her. In fact, her parents, like mine, never bought anything from the catalogues but they provided, pre-internet, a source of information about styles, prices, etc.
What really appealed to me was my girlfriend's comments about the clothes. She gave me a real insight into how women viewed them. This covered matters such as how comfortable or "easy to wear" a particular dress or skirt might be, what sort of slip would be needed beneath it, why some types of stocking would be more durable or more smooth than others, the pros and cons of different fastenings and adjusters on bras, what she thought about the position of suspenders on a belt or girdle and misleading claims about garments - especially foundations. My girlfriend would sometimes reveal details of what other girls (some of whom I knew) wore, e.g. "XXX wears one like that - it can't be very comfortable" (this when looking at a long-line bra).
All the time I was learning more about how women related to their clothes - and occasionally trying them for myself and understanding how the clothes in those catalogue pictures actually felt.