Resource Type

Padded Underwaist. (open access)

Padded Underwaist.

Patent for a new and improved padded underwaist. This design "has for its object to provide a waist to be worn by persons who are thin or emaciated, to beautify the appearance, to increase the breadth from shoulder to shoulder, and to make the form look plump and round" (lines 14-18). To this end it is "provided upon its inner surface with pockets extending down the middle of the back, on the breasts, around the lower edge, down the sleeves, and down the sides beneath the arms, the pockets down the sleeves and beneath the arms being united together" (lines 90-95).
Date: June 18, 1889
Creator: McDowell, Mary D.
System: The Portal to Texas History