How What Katie Did Recreate 1940s Lingerie
To give everyone access to good quality, affordable clothing and household goods the UK Government introduced the CC41 Utility label in 1941. In this short video, I show you some orginal 1940s CC41 lingerie pieces from my collection.
If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!
Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.
1940s CC09 French Knickers
Our CC09 French Knickers were inspired by a pair of 1940s CC41 label knickers I sourced at 'The War and Peace Show' in Kent, England. Introduced in 2009, I designed a CC09 label similar to the CC41 label which we use in most of our 1940s pieces.
If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!
Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.
1940s CC09 Bra
The second 1940s piece we designed was our CC09 bra. The 1950s is famous for the pointy Bullet Bra, but even in the 1940s bras tended to be rather pointy. We even went as far as to include non stretch ribbon straps on this bra, just as they would have been in the 1940s.
If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!
Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.
'We chose What Katie Did to achieve the correct silhouette for our period costumes'
- Becky Tregent (The Crown)
1940s CC09 Suspender Belt
It wasn't until a few years later that we made a 1940s Suspender Belt. Why? The originals only had 4 suspender straps (we know you prefer 6) and were, to put it plainly, rather industrial in appearance and feel. Our CC09 Suspender Belt isn't 100% 1940s authentic but is certainly more wearable than the original!
If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!
Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.
Bras Before the 1940s
Bras became more supportive in the 1940s: they had to be as women were doing more manual work due to WWII. The fit and structure advanced greatly during this decade.
Our 1940s Bra is inspired by the late 1930s bra shown in the photograph. You can tell just by looking at it that it's not very supportive: in fact looking at the label it is a 34B which as I mention earlier would be the ideal size to fit in this style!
The criss-cross stitching on the bottom of the cup is a feature we all loved and this is the bit we recreated in our 1940s inspired bra. The vintage bra features non stretch shoulder straps and non stretch band with just a tiny bit of elastic at the back. We've moved away from 100% vintage authenticity adding modern elastic shoulder straps and powermesh wings for comfort. The bottom half of our 1940s bra is lightly padded with 3mm foam for support and fit.
Life on the Homefront in the 1940s
Are you into the 1940s and 1950s but often get asked by other people if you think you're born in the wrong decade? Katie looks into what life was really like for women during WWII.
If you're new to retro style hosiery, or hosiery of any kind, then the terminology can be confusing - but help is at hand!
Check out our guide to hosiery and all will be revealed.
