These ankle-length petticoats remained a rural fashion, especially in the UK, into the nineteenth century and are a part of Welsh National Dress. Eighteenth century petticoats of wool or silk were often quilted for additional warmth and were worn with matching short gowns or jackets. Elaborately decorated petticoats were worn under open-fronted gowns and looped over skirts from the mid-sixteenth century.

The practice of wearing petticoats as undergarments was established around 1585. Petticoats have been worn throughout history by women who have wanted to achieve the currently fashionable shape created by their clothing. Nowadays skirts and dresses tend to be lined or lets face it we really just don’t care. I think the fear was that ones skirt fabric might be a bit see through or clingy without one.

When I was a little girl in the 1960s 70s, my mum used to say forgetting to wear a petticoat slip was like forgetting to put pants on! I can remember everyone used to go to Marks & Spencer or BHS and buy a full length or waist slip to suit whatever the fashionable hem line was at the time. To Petticoat Or Not To Petticoat? That Is The Question.

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