nostalgicallyyours:

marzipanandminutiae:

“how did Victorian women use the bathroom in all those layers?”

crotchless underwear. from the 1820s to the 1920s, underwear had open crotch seams (not in a sexy way)

so they just had to pull up their skirts and push their drawers open and make sure their chemises were out of the way and there you go

Edit: a sex toy blog liked this post, so I would just like to reemphasize how totally normal and non-sexual these drawers were with a photo (1890s example)

see all that fabric? no way is anyone seeing your bits without effort, open crotch or no open crotch. not to mention that you’re wearing at least 3 layers over it and a chemise under it that will show through the gap. this is not the same as modern crotchless panties. honestly every time I mention this people either think it’s gross or naughty

I would add that the “can can” was invented during the crotchless panty period, and that (despite there being opposing sources on whether the dancers wore special underthings) I like to think that was the reason that there were literal police raids on clubs where the can can was performed.

If I recall correctly, the issue with the can-can wasn’t what the dancers were wearing as much as what they weren’t wearing…

Then again, police raids bring that special frisson you need to get in the punters at the Moulin Rouge.