It seems that every time you turn around, there's some fashion item that's scandalizing the nation. Short shorts? Tube tops? Yep, we've seen them all.
You've probably even worn some clothing items back in the day that make you shake your head today and say, "What was I thinking? I sure looked cute, though."
Well, it turns out that this phenomenon isn't exactly new. In fact, people have been debating the appropriateness of fashion for centuries, and sometimes, those style revolutions that shocked so many actually had lasting repercussions.
It's no secret that fashions come and go — and usually come back again, but sometimes, a drastic change occurs that reshapes how we wear clothing in everyday life. And in this case, we mean "reshape" literally.
For centuries, women squeezed themselves into tight-fitting undergarments that whittled their waists into hourglass shapes — and often resulted in organ and bone deformities along the way. They also tended to wear lots of layers for both warmth and propriety.
But something was about to happen in 1908 in Paris that would shock some and change everything.
Check it out below, and see if you would follow this fashion trend back in the day.
[H/T: MessyNessyChic]
Prior to 1908, the curvy but somewhat stiff Victorian silhouette was still in fashion, and involved a laced-up look and lots of underwear.
But then, at the 1908 Prix du Prince races at Longchamp, an upscale event that also included something like a fashion show, scandal erupted.
The models, some of them seen in the above photo, appeared in tight, slinky dresses that left very little to the imagination.
Worst of all? It was evident that underneath was no underwear at all! And they were split to the knee, showing a scandalous amount of leg.
Who was behind this shocking display? Her name was Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix, and although she forever changed women's fashion, her name has been largely forgotten.
Her designs featured stretchy, clingy material and did away with the corset — at that time a wardrobe staple — altogether.
She'd actually been minimizing the corset in her designs for a while, but the dress, known in French as the robe-sylphide, completely eliminated it.
And that, along with its low neckline and split skirt, was shocking, even in Paris, which at the time was known as a center of art, fashion, and nightlife.
But for many young women who were tired of the stuffy Victorian fashions of the previous generations, these dresses were all the rage.
They showed off the wearer's natural shape, and came in fabrics like jersey that are still used today.
We usually think of the corset being chucked in the 1920s, but these dresses prove that women were done with them even earlier! The fashion soon spread out of France and into other parts of Europe.
Of course, they weren't without their detractors, and stories of distracted men crashing their carriages soon followed.
Women everywhere were soon wearing dresses after Margaine-Lacroix's design, and even a century later, you can still see the echoes of the willowy silhouette everywhere.
But Margaine-Lacroix herself was largely forgotten. Other designers, who were perhaps better at self-advertising, adapted her designs into their own.
So while she had a lasting effect on Western women's fashion, her name hasn't enjoyed the same fame.
But the other side of this was that women began to view their bodies differently, and one could also say that her corset-free style also gave rise to body obsession. After all, these dresses were tight and clingy — they didn't hide much!
So while the dresses caused a shock when they first appeared, they actually had a much longer-lasting place in the fashion world for both their style and construction.
So you never know which shocking fashion trend just might be the one that changes everything!
SHARE this strange and almost-forgotten story of how 20th-century fashion, and to get Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix back some of the recognition she deserves!
