Vintage Lingerie Commercials: 'Cross-Your-Heart' Bras, 'I Can't Believe It's A Girdle,' 'Trickelastic' & More (VIDEOS)

We all know that Victoria's Secret commercials use sexuality as a primary selling point; see the mostly-nude, confidence-(and bust-)boosting bronzed beauties with windblown hair filling up the ad slots. But the "you, too, can be this sexy" tagline hasn't been around forever, so we did a little digging to see how our unmentionables were sold way back when.

Apparently, prior to 1969, a real woman wearing a bra had never been showcased in an advertisement. Instead, mannequins were used to keep men's minds from wandering and cater to the ladies. The ads themselves emphasized support and minimal padding, the polar opposite of contemporary push-ups and plunging necklines. Promoting long-lasting comfort, the bra commercials of yore sold a product that was meant to stay on, as opposed to be taken off.

Take a look at these bra and girdle commercials from the '60s and '70s to see just how far we've come...for better or for worse.

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Playtex "Cross-Your-Heart" Slightly Padded Bra

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Comments

[whollylovtrinity]

05:10 PM on 08/06/2011

The WORD and The spin-offs Philosophical have TAUGHT/TEACH  that the flesh  is temporal/temporary/ and Not the essence of The  CHILD-of-CREATORLOV .  Matthew ch 7-2 GaTes  TEACHES SPIRITUALETERNALVALUs are not in " ... opposition to the SPIRIT"
(Ga5)  as anatomy-Physiology  THE FLESH is...
         The theme  of HEARTMINDsoulstrength (DeuT6=Mt22=Mk=Lu=Jn )  has been amplified  ^^^ through the ages.    The playwright wm s wrote a sonnet-- "...the marriage of True Minds" (incl)  # 116.   Poet eecummings in a posthumous volume-collecion shared #5 of 73 poems.  "... a Lover and His only Love--  strolling slowly  MIND-- IN -- MIND... .
Five hundred years from NOW, ( Nay, 100 years from now ) the body-flesh and  time energy resources  in the topic ,  while we in the culture / society  may  'concern'  with the temporal-fleeting " body image " that may have little-no elusive-enigmatic Self-Esteem
     SELF-LOVE Has ALways been the ETERNAL CORNERSTONE   (what do we possess in confirming or deny Life-Death conumdrum(conjecture)?  [ One-VERSE evANGEL ization : Do/Does One find it incredible that the CREATORLOVENERGY creaTing Life-death has the power to resurrect/returnLife (GODisLOVE 1J4;J17  ACTS 26:v8).

[JBT3618]

09:46 AM on 08/06/2011

Thank God we don't have to wear slips, girdles and pantyhose are at least I have that option whether I want to are not, I choose the later. It makes you uncomfortable and hotter than all get out.

[kmd4excel]

08:39 AM on 08/06/2011

just a casual observation... I think it would be nice to see the girdle come back -- to get rid of the "muffin top"....

[JBT3618]

09:48 AM on 08/06/2011

kmd4excel, ever wore one?

[Svensk]

06:15 AM on 08/06/2011

I've been a crossdresser alll my life, and to me the "old days" of lingerie were the best. So many things to put on! I loved dressing then. A foundation of panties, bra, girdle, nylons and slip. So feminine, and you could feel the lingerie on, that was the best part. I still own many, many articles from the good old days, and still wear them. Modern lingerie is very sexy, and I do love it, but the mystique of layers of frilly lingerie will long live.

[metusmetu]

03:55 AM on 08/06/2011

You know,..back "in the day" there were some truly beautiful women, not a bunch mind you, but a few here, and there. Nowadays you've got them everywhere, not "true" beauty's but ones that have bought the "gimmicks, and fake beauty enhancers" (so they think)", and to me there are a zillion "look a like" women out there. Why can't all of you, just be yourselves? Every woman has her own special "inner-beauty",.....why don't you just let that shine through?!

[puertoricianskys]

01:25 AM on 08/06/2011

Remember Jane Russel?. When I was a kid I use to see her all the time on the "cross your heart bra commercials" She went back to God I shall miss her. Now shes in heaven wearing a "eternity bra" I hope her wings can carry her set of jugs?

[sugarcreekchile]

12:51 AM on 08/06/2011

Thank god for the invention of pantyhose and the demise of girdles. When I was in high school, everyone wore a girdle or garter belt to hold up their hose. At 5'3" and weighing 105 lbs., I wore one. Like my tummy could get any flatter than it was naturally. They were the most uncomfortable things and thank god they've gone the way of the corset. The only thing that came into being that was better than pantyhose was tampons. The elastic belts had held the sanitary pads would always wedge in your butt crack giving you a never-ending wedgie. Getting your mother to let you wear tampons was a battle because of propaganda at the time that using them would compromise your virginity.

[whollylovtrinity]

11:43 PM on 08/05/2011

There has Historically been a design function for "unmentionables" -- Lingerie current...
The specieshuman has a longer --more thoughful -- psych state observed for the LUST- LUSt-
Mk 4 --the resulting Negatives for the Individual , and the society-culture.
The ripple the lust from apparel has contributed specifics , and generally to Sex Crimes and Violence ; Even Child Sexual Assault / abuse. . The Truth/Consequencescan' be blind to The YOUNG & IMPRESSIONABLE ; and The YOUNG-AT-HEART (1Sam16;Deut6;Mt22=Mk=Lu)
The record shows the contoversy of censorship had (has)proponents-Ladies- who expressed the "collective guilt" for 'anything goes' 'amoral' attitudes without consequences... ( Turning a blind eye to the scope is done by the Two-Face'd , Forked-Tongue'd. Some learn early- some learn late-- some n e v e r learn... (Mt 7: 2gates ; Mt 18 ; Mt 24 )

[meman1]

01:13 AM on 08/06/2011

wow, do you think you could repeat that in english!!!!!

[JBT3618]

11:37 PM on 08/05/2011

I don't care who makes them there is no such thing as a comfortable bra!!

[Misty Sanchez]

01:01 AM on 08/06/2011

Amen, sister!

[JBT3618]

09:35 AM on 08/06/2011

Misty Sanchez, thanks for commenting on my statement! I once saw in magazine a picture of a under wire bra it was made out of barbwire! I should have saved that one.

[paulsca138]

11:11 PM on 08/05/2011

Playtex still makes better bras then Victoria Secrets. VS makes cheap, over priced, horrible fitting bras.
Girls wear them with this silly fantasy that they feel so "sexy"...If VS had any kind of serious competition they would crumple!!

[Bob Souza]

11:05 PM on 08/05/2011

Before Victoria's Secret was(and still is in my opinion) Fredrick's of Hollywood!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cberrl]

10:24 PM on 08/05/2011

Shucks! Where are the garter belts!!!

[meacobb11]

10:08 PM on 08/05/2011

I think women looked a lot more feminine then, not so much like a cow waiting to be milked, as some younger women look today, because of the way they dress.

[CommonSensible]

09:41 PM on 08/05/2011

i saw the first commercial okay, but all the other ones gave me a message that said 'navigation canceled'. fml.

[reignmond]

09:19 PM on 08/05/2011

I remember Jane Russel on TV with a Playtex bra over her sweater!

[themightyabealrd]

12:40 AM on 08/06/2011

Film critic David Thomson described her brassiere commercials thusly:
'...she brought "great news for us full-figure gals", a message from Arcadia to Levittown.' Even though she was an exact contemporary of my mother's, the early teenage me watched these ads with a depth of interest I usually reserved for my favorite baseball teams.