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Theliberty bodice (Australian andBritish English), like theemancipation bodice orNorth Americanemancipation waist, was an undergarment for women and girls invented towards the end of the 19th century, as an alternative to acorset.
In theUnited Kingdom they were well known for decades, with some older women still using them in the 1970s.[1] A liberty bodice was a simply shaped sleevelessbodice, often made of warm, fleecy fabric, usually withsuspenders (US garters) attached. It might be straight or slightly curvy, and sometimes had buttons to fasten on other underwear:drawers (knickers or US panties) or petticoat/slip. Avest (US undershirt) might be worn underneath. The bodices had no boning, unlike corsets, although some had firm cloth strapping which might encourage good posture.
While some writers discuss liberty bodices as a restrictive garment imposed on children,[2] these bodices were originally intended to "liberate" women from the virtually universally worn, highly structured corsets that were the norm of contemporary fashion. These new undergarments derived from theVictorian dress reform Movement, which aimed to free women from what they saw as body-compressing corsetry and excessive layers of underclothing. The concept was related to the Women'sEmancipation Movement,[3] but in practice some of the early liberty bodices in the UK were advertised formaids[4] who would be freer to get on with their work without a constricting corset. Later the liberty bodice came to be thought of as something practical for a child who could be buttoned up warmly.
Liberty bodices are commonly associated with R. & W. H. Symington ofMarket Harborough,Leicestershire, but the name had already been used before they made their first bodice: a version for girls aged 9–13 was sold for oneshilling and ninepence-halfpenny in 1908.[5] The name has also been used for products from other manufacturers or for home-made garments.
