The History of M&S Lingerie - M&S Archive

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Home // Discover // Online Exhibitions // The History of M&S Lingerie
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In this exhibition

1. Introduction 2. Drapery Department 3. 1920s Lingerie 4. Adjust to Fit 5. Loungewear 6. War Years 7. Fitting Well 8. 1950s developments 9. Stockings 10. Shapewear 11. Modernising lingerie 12. The Seventies 13. The Eighties 14. 1990s-2000s 15. Collaborations 16. Archive Inspiration

1. Introduction

2. Drapery Department
Cotton and Rayon bra, c1928
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Introduction

Today, one in three women wears an M&S bra.

In fact, we’ve been selling lingerie for over 90 years!

This exhibition explores the world of M&S lingerie, from bras and knickers to girdles and corselettes. We’ll look at garments from the archive collection, as well as marketing and advertising material, staff training guides and film.

2. Drapery Department

1. Introduction 3. 1920s Lingerie
Window displays including drapery, 1928
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Drapery Department

The 1920s saw an increase in consumerism, the spending power of working people increased, and the cost of living was falling.

Many women could now afford to buy ready-made garments, rather than making everything themselves.

In 1926 we opened our drapery department, which included lingerie as well as clothing for adults and children.

Staff bulletins from 1927 give us an insight into popular products at the time, which included fleecy knickers, free-run bodices, cami-bockers (knee-length knickers with poppers that attached to a camisole), and elastic garters – reported as ‘an exceptionally fast seller at Christmas’.

We were still selling haberdashery for customers who wanted to make their own. Store managers were advised on how to increase sales of elastic – fancy garter elastic and artificial silk elastic were sold by the yard.

3. 1920s Lingerie

2. Drapery Department 4. Adjust to Fit
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Cotton and Rayon bra, c1928
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Window display of stockings, 1930s
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Lingerie window display, 1930s
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1920s Lingerie

The earliest bra in our collection dates to the late 1920s.

The cups are made of artificial silk, or rayon. The front panel is a double-layered cotton and elastic, much more flexible than earlier bras or corsets. It’s supportive yet retains the flatter, more boyish silhouette popular at the time.

Stockings were a best seller. Slightly shorter dress styles meant emphasis was placed on legs, ‘your underwear was suddenly outerwear, visible to all’ Lou Taylor, Through the Looking Glass, 1989.

In 1928 customers could buy artificial silk stockings in shades including ‘gunmetal’, ‘Paris’ and ‘Florence Mills’ – named after a popular American jazz singer.

1930s window displays show how these ranges were promoted, lingerie certainly wasn’t hidden away. Sales assistants made imaginative, creative displays with the products to entice customers inside.

4. Adjust to Fit

3. 1920s Lingerie 5. Loungewear
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Advert for uplift bras and corsetry, 1932
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The bras in this 1932 advert were available in sizes 32-38 inches, they have ribbon straps and hook-and-eye side fastenings.
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Adjust to Fit

By 1932 our lingerie range had expanded to suit different body shapes.

We sold uplift bras that guaranteed a ‘perfect figure’, and hook-sided girdles giving ‘that slim silhouette demanded by present fashions’ The Marks & Spencer Magazine, Christmas 1932.

1930s customers selected a bra by chest size, not cup size. Women adjusted their new bras at home, we have several in the collection that have been altered with tiny stitches at the straps and cups.

Stock control documents show that by 1939 we were selling at least 30 styles of bras – mostly available in white or peach, sometimes blue.

Styles included rubber ‘Reducing Brassieres’ and an Outsize range. We also sold a range of sanitary belts and towels.

5. Loungewear

4. Adjust to Fit 6. War Years
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This 1932 advert shows a range of loungewear. The pyjama suit on the right was from the Mayfair range and sold for 4/11 – this colour-way was described as Malmaison and Lupin.
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This 1937 photo shows a window display of artificial silk slips, promoted as ‘pleasant to wear’, and that ‘wash & wear well’
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Window display of artificial silk stockings, 1930s
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Artificial silk window display, 1930s
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Loungewear

Pyjama suits had been popularised in the 1920s by designers such as Chanel and Vionnet, and by the 1930s they were even being worn outside the bedroom.

In 1931, Vogue magazine declared, ‘A woman may wear pyjamas to quite formal dinners in her own house, to other people’s dinners in town and country if you know them well and the more iconoclastic members of the female sex even wear them to the theatre’ Vogue, June 1931.

Artificial silk, or rayon, was a synthetic fibre developed in the late 1890s, made with cellulose from wood pulp. It was popular for lingerie as a more affordable alternative to silk, and a more luxurious option than cotton or wool.

6. War Years

5. Loungewear 7. Fitting Well
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Jacquard satin Utility Wear bra, 1941-1952. The garments pictured here were made to Utility regulations, and yet the fabrics give them a luxurious look and feel.
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Jacquard satin Utility Wear bra (reverse), 1941-1952
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Jacquard satin Utility Wear bra label, 1941-1952
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This bra is size 34, medium cup – an early example of cup size.
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Teddy slips were designed to be worn under trousers, the popper closing making them practical garments.
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War Years

During the Second World War Head Office teams were moved out of London to ensure day to day business wasn’t interrupted by air raids and transport problems.

Both the Corsetry and Woven Underwear Buying departments were relocated to Leicester.

Wartime restrictions, austerity measures and the Utility Scheme meant designers had to work harder to make attractive yet practical garments. Despite this, we were still able to produce glamorous lingerie using artificial silk.

7. Fitting Well

6. War Years 8. 1950s developments
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This Guide to Figure Types describes four body types – youthful, medium, full or outsize, and gives advice on the types of corsets to be recommended.
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Corsetry department, 1948
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Fitting Well

We’ve always helped our customers find the perfect fit.

Before fitting rooms were introduced, sales assistants were trained to measure customers on the shop floor.

In the late 1940s we developed our bra sizing to include three cup sizes – small, medium and large. This meant our bras fitted a much wider range of customers, though some customers would still make final adjustments at home.

In 1947 we tried a new way of selling lingerie. At a trial store special inward-facing counters were arranged to create a more private space where customers could discuss their ‘corseting problems’.

Takings went up because, although each transaction took longer, customers were more willing to ask for the service and advice they needed. Exchanges decreased as customers bought the correct size first time around.

8. 1950s developments

7. Fitting Well 9. Stockings
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Corsetry department, 1956
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This strapless bra was advertised in 1953. The panels, boning, elastic and lace worked together to create a supportive, attractive garment.
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This 1955 high line roll-on girdle provided more support. These girdles had very little boning so were, in theory, more comfortable than earlier designs.
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Bras and girdles, 1950s
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1950s developments

Interest in lingerie increased in the 1950s.

The prevailing style, nipped in waists and full skirts influenced by Christian Dior’s New Look, required the support and underpinning that only lingerie could provide.

Our Corsetry department used new display techniques, which  increased sales. In 1953 over a fifth of all bras bought in Britain were from M&S, and in the run up to Christmas 1956, our Leeds store sold 660 pairs of knickers in just over two hours.

By 1953 we offered a range of support garments, from suspender belts and roll-on girdles to hook-sided girdles and fully laced corsets.

Sales assistants were provided with product information. For example, suspender belts were ‘mainly for the teenager’; roll-ons gave gentle support, apparently with complete freedom of movement; while laced corsets were for those who needed ‘strong support to back and abdomen’ Staff Management News, June 1953.

9. Stockings

8. 1950s developments 10. Shapewear
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Stocking survey, 1956
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Stocking survey leg measurements, 1956
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Waist-high stockings for customers who weren’t ready to give up stockings completely. Each leg is put on separately then the waistband fastened.
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Waist-high stockings, 1968
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Stockings

Our stockings were originally sized using leg measurements from American women and foot sizes of Dutch women, so not necessarily accurate for British women!

In 1956 we conducted a survey, measuring the legs of 600 M&S sales assistants. 17 measurements from each leg and information like the subject’s age and what type of work she did were recorded.

M&S first sold tights in 1963, available in various shades including the popular American Tan. By the end of the 1960s tights were outselling stockings.

Joan and Patricia of the Research department gathered all the data for our stocking survey, visiting stores across the UK to take measurements.

The survey gave our hosiery teams a much better idea of how customers’ legs were shaped, resulting in a new range of super-fit fully fashioned stockings.

10. Shapewear

9. Stockings 11. Modernising lingerie
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This all-nylon corselette, which combined a bra and girdle, was introduced in October 1957 for customers who wanted firmer control.
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Corsetry window display, 1962-1966
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The tailored slip was available in black or white nylon sharkskin for 14s 11d.
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Illustration from Figure in a St Michael Foundation article, 1961
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From light to firm control, panty girdles came in lace and brightly coloured fabric to match the bras.
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A late 1960s panty girdle, lightweight and less restrictive than earlier girdles but still offering support via sewn-in panels and strong stretch fabric.
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The American-inspired panty girdle range gave gentle uplift and was recommended for wearing under trousers.
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Shapewear

In 1957 we trialed full-body shaping lingerie.

Girdles and corselettes were promoted as we encouraged customers to buy supporting garments.

In 1961 we introduced the first tailored slip, a revolutionary product invented to be worn under pencil skirts and the slimmer fitting dresses of the time. A technical approach was taken – M&S engineering services were even drafted in to ensure the slip took the strain, not the skirt.

In 1965 we were the first retailer to sell matching bras, girdles and panty girdles on a large scale. The range was aimed at younger customers – both in design and price, each bra cost 9s/11d.

We said, ‘American women have been wearing panty girdles for years, but it has taken a mini-skirt revolution and the consequent use of tights for the British girl to start blessing the designer who introduced the gusset into girdles’ St Michael News, Feb 1968.

11. Modernising lingerie

10. Shapewear 12. The Seventies
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Apparently a ‘highly controversial’ design, we billed the bra slip as the ‘hottest fashion tip-for-the-top since the no-bra bra’ St Michael News, Oct 1966.
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Bras, 1964
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Lingerie range illustration, 1968
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This advert, In Form for Tomorrow was produced in 1962 to promote Lycra in St Michael lingerie.
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Modernising lingerie

Our designers noticed that all-in-one bra-slips were popular in Paris, and so brought the idea home in 1966.

The M&S bra slip became a best seller due to its practicality in combining two separate garments, plus its shorter length suited mini-skirt fashions.

In 1969 we adopted international bra cup sizes A, B, C and D, replacing small/medium/large sizes. Lettered sizes had been used since the 1930s in America, and were phased in across the UK from 1969.

A 1969 staff newsletter reported that one of the first people to purchase a new size bra was actress Diana Dors, during a trip to M&S. In a very 1960s way the magazine also noted Ms Dors’ bra size!

Our cinema adverts of the late 1950s and early 1960s promoted new synthetic fabrics. Stores would have promotions on the featured products so viewers could go straight out and buy them.

12. The Seventies

11. Modernising lingerie 13. The Eighties
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This best-selling lace bra was introduced in 1971 for 73p.
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Lingerie range, 1976
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A display of lingerie in an M&S store in Cyprus, 1960s
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The language used here is practical and informative, with fewer comments on body ‘faults’, as we'd called them in earlier training guides.
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The Seventies

In the 1970s we saw a more natural shape emerge in both bras and knickers, with little or no support.

In 1971 we introduced a lace, unlined bra – 18 months later we’d sold a million! It became the best-selling bra in Britain in 1972.

We also exported lingerie. There were St Michael concessions in chain stores, St Michael shops, and standalone M&S stores in various locations. By 1977 knickers were our largest export – nearly 4 million pairs a year were sold around the world.

Measuring techniques for lingerie hadn’t really changed by the 1970s. Changing rooms were only introduced towards the end of the decade, so staff continued to measure bra size on the shop floor under customers’ coats.

13. The Eighties

12. The Seventies 14. 1990s-2000s
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Strapless bra, 1983
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Lingerie range, 1985
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Lingerie ranges, 1980s
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The Eighties

A 1983 campaign, Bras for Today’s Woman, encouraged customers to buy a wardrobe of different bras.

We said, ‘Ladies need at least three styles: a good, softly shaped day bra, a seamless bra for the ‘natural’ look to wear under t-shirts and a deeply plunging glamour bra for evenings’ St Michael News, Feb 1981.

In 1984 we launched a sports-inspired underwear range. Again, influence came from America, where apparently ‘sporty undies are all the rage’ St Michael News, May 1984.

By the mid-1980s we were selling bras specifically intended for sports, and by 1992 sales assistants were trained in advising customers which bras were most suitable for exercise.

14. 1990s-2000s

13. The Eighties 15. Collaborations
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New look lingerie departments were trialed with products separated into categories – glamour, modern and classic.
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Bra fit training, 1994
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Plus size lingerie, 1994
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A 10% donation from the sale of each post-surgery bra went to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Our partnership with Breast Cancer Now, as the charity is now known, continues today.
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Post surgery bra, 2014
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Post surgery bra detail, 2014
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Women wanted bridal lingerie that was feminine and pretty, but practical to wear under various styles of dress.
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1990s-2000s

In 1997 we made our lingerie departments and products more appealing, including the launch of a new bra fitting service.

M&S researchers visited eight countries in 10 weeks, buying lingerie and looking at the retail environment. We acted on the findings, creating welcoming, easier to shop spaces.

Post-surgery bras were introduced at the start of the 2000s. Designed with women who had had partial or full mastectomies, a new range in 2006 included more colour and detailing than before.

In 1994 we began selling lingerie for a wider range of customers. We surveyed 500 brides before creating a range of bridal lingerie, introduced plus size lingerie, and our first maternity range – designed in consultation with midwives, health visitors and the National Childbirth Trust.

15. Collaborations

14. 1990s-2000s 16. Archive Inspiration
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Salon Rose range in collaboration with Agent Provocateur, 1999
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Rosie for Autograph sleepwear range, 2013
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Rosie For Autograph leaflet, 2014
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Collaborations

We’ve often collaborated with guest lingerie designers.

In 1999 the Salon Rose range from Agent Provocateur arrived in store, including bridal and maternity collections.

Model and actor Rosie Huntington-Whiteley launched her first range of M&S lingerie in 2012. The collaboration continues today, including swimwear, loungewear and sportswear. Since 2012 the Rosie collection has broken sales records.

16. Archive Inspiration

15. Collaborations
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The original 1973 bra that inspired the 2016 design.
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The non-wired version of the 2016 bra differed very little from the original 70s bestseller.
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Trellis lace 90th anniversary lingerie, 2016
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Archive-inspired lace bra, 2022
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BraFit, 2022
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Period underwear, 2022
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Sleep bra, 2022
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Archive Inspiration

The archive continues to be an inspiring resource for colleagues in our design departments.

In 2016, when we celebrated 90 years of lingerie, designers visited the archive to view our lingerie collection.

They chose the best-selling 1970s lace bra to redesign for 2016. The new bra was available in three colours, underwired and non-wired with matching knickers.

We’ve found new ways to help customers find the best fit. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 we gave customers the resources they needed to measure themselves for a new bra, and at the start of 2021 we began offering virtual bra-fits, where customers can chat to a bra fit expert from the comfort of their own home.

Recent additions to our lingerie ranges include period underwear, providing an alternative to disposable period products, and sleep bras that give gentle support through the night.

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