What happened to petticoats?

[Helpmechooseausername]

I saw something on another thread that made me wonder what happened to petticoats? I'm sure you can still get them but I'm also sure most women don't bother with them!
My Mum always wore one when I was a kid back in the 70s / 80s, but I wouldn't even consider wearing one now.
So why not? What's changed that means women don't need them any more?
Thanks!

I tend to live in dresses, l love my dresses, l wear half slips on occasion if it gives a better line.

I’m late 30s and remember me and my sister having them under school skirts until about age 8, but I suspect we were a minority! I used to love them though, mum used to make them herself and put a bit of lace trim round the bottom and a ribbon with a bow. I used to think they were too pretty to be hidden under a skirt!

as an adult I got in to dress making and made a slip, to wear under dresses with tights - stops them sticking. I made a lot of cotton dresses which do stick to tights a lot. They hang much better. Most shop bought dresses aren’t cotton now so probably don’t stick in the same way, maybe that’s it?

I'm in my 50s and had to wear one with my school uniform because we had ridiculous wrap skirts that blew up in the slightest wind and showed your underwear.
i would think there's a lot of reasons behind it - clothes are made from different fabrics or fabric blends now to reduce static. Better indoor heating as PP said so don't need additional layers. It's very much more the norm for girls to not wear skirts and dresses than it was back in the 80s. I very rarely see any of my teen daughters and friends in anything other than jeans, joggers or shorts except for school uniform. I never wear skirts or dresses myself if I can help it except if it's REALLY hot and would never ever wear tights. Trousers are so much more practical!

I think fashion has a lot to do with it. Most formal/work type dresses are lined these days.
Far more females wear jeans or trousers and variations of shorts and leggings than skirts.
I still wear a half slip under dresses- I’ve had them for years- but if they’re hot weather dresses then I’m more likely to wear cycling shorts underneath instead to avoid chub rub.
I work with a lot of younger women who simply don’t wear skirts, thinking about it, or if they do they’re quite short and they usually have cycling shorts underneath.
DD has a couple of Primark slip length vest tops that she uses under work dresses for extra warmth in the winter.

Several of my summer skirts are unlined (and so see-thru) so I wear a slip with them.

Generally, I think a lot of people don't check what they look like from behind and aren't aware that their skirt/leggings are see-thru. Or they just don't care.

My mum still wore them to make skirts hang better (I guess) in the 80s - but I am surprised by the PP who says she and her peers wore them as teens in the 80s/90s - we definitely didn’t.

I’m guessing a combo of central heating, climate change and trousers becoming the day to day go to for most women except when it’s very hot has done for them. I do own one half slip for a dress that’s see through otherwise. They are easy enough to find online.

That's probably it. As a young woman I wore one in the 70s but not since then although I think some dresses would be better with a slip. I have a tiered 50s style 'petticoat' in my wardrobe but rarely wear it.

I remember wearing petticoats in the 80s. It was considered cool for a white petticoat to be seen in the back slit of our navy school skirts...

Skip forward 40 years- and I don't wear petticoats. Left me with a bit of a problem when on holiday when I discovered a grey pleated midi skirt to be very see through. Luckily I had light grey short shorts with me and wore them underneath. Great for an impromptu beach visit one evening and I took my skirt off like cheryl Baker in bucks fizz and waded around in my shorts...

I remember being made to wear them as a child in the 70s/80s . It was totally about modesty with my mum . Terribly uncomfortable and never worn one since I left home . If a dress is see through I just don’t buy it - if it’s a bit short I pop shorts on underneath

There’s see through and see through though. If it’s full on visible knickers that's one thing, but if you are talking about a silhouette of legs under a skirt or dress, l don’t care. Everybody knows l have legs underneath.

The M&S cool comfort ones are good. I wear a black one underneath dresses where there's a risk that my bra shows at the top, buttons gape or a wrap dress flies open in the breeze. Or if a dress is a bit see through and I want to wear it for work.

I thought this the other day - we all wore them at school in the early 80s.. If your petticoat was showing, it was "it's snowing in Paris". But I can't remember when I stopped wearing them - for unlined dresses and skirts, they did make them "hang better" (as we were always told).

I wear a slip under my unlined, work dresses, usually in the winter when wearing tights. I also wear one on cooler summer days. They make things hang better, particularly the unlined ones I tend to buy for work from: Seasalt, White Stuff, Boden, etc.

M&S have lots in stock which are very simple.

In the 70s/80s I used to wear a half slip when I was thin

As a child in the 60s it was vest, liberty bodice (hated the liberty bodice, I don't think anyone else in my class was made to wear one), petticoat. I don't remember wearing a slip to school post 11.

I'd forgotten all about petticoats! And, as a PP said 'it's snowing down south' 😆 That's hilarious!

I had to wear one all the time (1971 vintage here!) and I used to love the very odd hot summer's day when my mum said I didn't have to wear it. Oh, the sense of freedom!

I definitely wore one under my school skirt in the 1980s. I think they'd faded out of my wardrobe by the 1990s but by then I was into my mid teens and wouldn't be seen dead in anything other than jeans! They were called underskirts back then though, I think the only person who called them petticoats was my Gran.

A couple of years ago I bought a full slip from M&S and now have a few as I mainly wear dresses these days - peri is making my tummy uncomfortable in separates/clothes with a defined waist. A slip seems like a lovely relic from a bygone age, the sort of thing a stylish woman of the 1940s would have worn. And as others have said, dresses hang much better with one underneath.

I have a couple of M& S ones I wear under dresses

In the 1980s I had this wonderful cotton petticoat with a crocheted lace edge - Laura Ashley perhaps? It was great under a skirt as you'd catch glimpses of the lacy edge when sitting or swirling. I had other synthetic ones to go under straight skirts. Not worn one for years, my dresses, skirts are lined already so no need.

I wear slips a lot especially with unlined dresses or skirts M&S cool comfort ones come in full length or half slips lots of different lengths (especially handy for midi/maxi skirts or dresses) also next stock them I find they makes clothes hang better & stop from clinging, was a long thread about slips last year was very informative.

I think - particularly among the younger generation- no one cares if clothes are see through anymore. It’s just not a thing. Just like my dds age group (dd is 22) don’t wear proper bras anymore, even those who have similar sized boobs to me (36G). They’re happy for them to bounce about all over the place and show nipples through clothes. Same with knickers showing through trousers / skirts etc. My Mum would be turning in her grave! 😂

Never worn them.

many women these days don’t wear dresses or skirts.

plenty of skirts wouldn’t take a Petticoat underneath - thinking rara skirts, kilts, pencil skirts etc.

there is a shop near me that sells 50s style dresses with a full skirt and petticoat to go with them to fill the skirt out but that’s very much a fashion choice.

my DD wears shorts under a dress if she’s worried about it being see through.

I feel like we stopped wearing them at the time it became not hugely shameful even if someone could see the silhouette of your legs through your skirt in bright sunlight - my mum still wears them but I don’t as I genuinely don’t care, having worn properly see through mesh dresses designed to show off your underwear in the 1990s when it was in fashion as a teen 🤣🤣 I’m surprised patent shoes haven’t made a resurgence, I also remember being told as a young child (and I mean nursery age) that I couldn’t have them because boys might be able to see the reflection of my knickers in them - I remember even age 4 saying something along the lines of “so what? I don’t care if they do! And they shouldn’t be looking anyway!” All credit to my mother she said I was quite right and bought them for me anyway 🤣

I wear cotton half slips under summer dresses. Cycle shorts or cropped leggings are far too hot and therefore uncomfortable.

I wear slips to stop dresses and skirts clinging to tights, too.

Went out of fashion i think.
I used to wear underskirts as a kid in the 70s but they just stopped being a thing and I haven't owned one for 40 odd years.

I remember when I was a teen, underskirts were seen as embarrassing and something your gran would wear (like headscarfs) so maybe there's an element of that in why they fell out of fashion. Kids being dicks. As kids are prone to be. 😁

I remember wearing them for school in the 1970'S (no school uniform in those days but didn't girls always need to wear skirts 🤔)
I wore elasticated pants (trousers) playing out, so didn't need one then.
My mum always called it an "underskirt"
I remember her asking if I was wearing my underskirt before setting off for school 😁

Fabrics change. I remember needing a slip under a dress as a teen because otherwise it would cling uncomfortably to my legs and looked weird. Too staticky. (Although a blast of hairspray would also work)