Scarlett O’Hara was the prize piece of Tara, her father’s plantation. She was charming and well-dressed, but more than that she had the prided 17-inch waist — a result of wearing tight corsets the majority of her life.
Although corsets were once used by women, like the fictional character Scarlett, for waist reduction, their use in the past decades has been more about fashion than getting that hour-glass figure. But whether wearing lingerie tops like corsets is “in” is something some students don’t agree on.
Cate Adams, a senior in textile and apparel management, spent her summer learning about fashion research and trend prediction during an internship at Jane magazine in New York City.
Adams said she has yet to hear anything about lingerie tops being fashionable this season. In fact, she says lingerie tops haven’t been “in” for a few years.
“I think that a couple of years ago that was a kind of big thing,” she said. “I remember wearing lingerie tops out with black pants to go clubbing.”
Jessica Couch, a freshman in textile and apparel management, agrees with Adams. She said students choose more flattering feminine pieces constructed from fabrics such as satins, silk and lace.
“Lingerie as tops will not be in style this season,” she said. “The style for ladies instead is elegant.”
If the fashion-perplexed refuse to throw out old lingerie tops left over from previous Valentine’s Days, Couch suggests they choose empire-waisted lingerie tops in attempt to stay a touch stylish.
She stressed that if it is necessary to wear a lingerie top, this fashion free will should only be exercised in a club atmosphere.
Adams contemplated the demise of lingerie tops in the fashion limelight.
“People made it trashy and not classy, and people took it to the extreme where bras were showing the bra straps, where they should’ve been wearing strapless bras,” she said.
A few students like Moran Aframian chose a different approach to the outdated design of lingerie tops.
Aframian, a sophomore in textile and apparel management, said there is a right way and a wrong way to wear a lingerie top. According to her, students need to be wary when they choose lingerie tops.
You can really play it up and make it really fun and sexy, like it doesn’t look like lingerie or you can make it really trash,” She said.
But Aframian is not alone in her view on the tops. Mandi Such, a freshman in textile and apparel management, said lingerie tops are fashionable, as long as they are classy.
“I think it depends on how it’s worn, because you don’t want to overdo it,” she said.