Portrait of a Lady - Part 6 (Slip and Half-Slip)

Finally get to work on my blog after taking some time for a festive season break, decided to post this on the last day of 2020 to mark my ongoing effort of keeping my blog alive. Anyway, going into Part Six of Portrait of a Lady, we are going to look at slip and half-slip. Technically speaking, slip and half-slip are internal wear and people generally do not see if as they are worn under normal clothes such as dress or skirts. However, I still considered them essential for a lady as they served multi purpose which we will look at in this post. 

A slip is a woman's undergarment worn beneath a dress or skirt. There are two types of slips, the full slip and the half slip. A full slip hangs from the shoulders, usually by means of narrow straps, and extends from the breast to the fashionable skirt length. A half slip (or waist slip) hangs from the waist. The word "petticoat" may also be used for half or full slips.

Slips serve various functions. They help a dress or skirt hang properly. They protect the skin from chafing against coarse fabrics such as wool; conversely, if the outer garment is made of fine fabric, a slip protects it from perspiration. A slip may be worn for warmth, especially if the dress or skirt is lightweight and thin, whereas in very warm and/or humid climates, a slip made from 100% cotton may be desired. Slips are often worn to prevent the show through of intimate undergarments such as panties or a brassiere. A slip may also be used to prevent a silhouette of the legs showing through clothing when standing in front of a bright light source. Slip or half-slip is generally used as an internal wear to protect the modesty of a lady, which I think it is important for any decent lady. 

Slips fall into two major categories. A full slip is hung from the shoulders by straps that extend down to the top of the breast area. Full slips come in a variety of lengths; some extend down to the upper thigh, some to just above the knees, or just below the knees, while others go down to just above the ankles. The other type is known as a waist slip, sometimes referred to as a "half slip", is held on to the body around the waist by means of an elastic waistband. The waist slip is also available in the same lengths as the aforementioned full slip. Waist slips that extend down to just above the ankle are often called "formal", or "maxi" slips. "Mini slips" are yet another size option for waist slips. They were first introduced in the 1960s to wear under a mini skirt. American Maid manufactured waist slips that had vents and a rear zipper in addition to the elastic waistband. These slips were made of 50% nylon and 50% dacron polyester. As an alternative to the full slip, a waist slip with a matching camisole can be worn. Depending on the length of skirts or dresses that you are wearing, you should choose a slip or half slip of appropriate length that is not too long or too short. The slip should offer enough protection from unintentional exposure and also protect the modesty of a lady. 

There is also a type of "slip" designed to be worn under pants known as "pettipants". In addition to pants, a pettipant may also be worn under a dress or skirt, and like slips, they are mainly made of nylon. Slip or half slip can prevent visible panty lines (or VPL for short). Before thongs or boyleg briefs became popular, a lot of women wore half-slips to avoid VPL. With more modern choices now available, half-slips have significantly decreased in popularity, though. However, they do still work in some scenarios, like when you’re wearing a skirt with a thin material. In this case, you want extra coverage with no VPL, so the half-slip is your answer. You can get them in silk or other luxurious fabrics if you don’t want to feel frumpy or dowdy about wearing a half-slip under your clothes.

Many slips have floral lace at the hem and/or the "vents" or "sideslits". Some of the older slips have decorations, such as a butterfly or flowers sewn into the fabric of the slip, and a pillowtab was also added to the waistband of a waist slip. The vast majority of slips are made of 100% nylon, while others are made from polyester, rayon, acetate, silk or in some cases cotton. Nylon slips are often shiny in appearance, and are very smooth to the touch, while polyester slips can even be more shiny with a real slippery feel, especially charmeuse or "satin" slips. Although charmeuse slips have very attractive eye appeal, they are not as durable as nylon slips, and often tear very easily, especially when wet.

Most of the slips made today are very plain, and are lacking in detail. Intricate decorations and lace designs are almost completely absent from modern day slips. Slips are not worn nearly as much as a few decades ago. Most transparent skirts and dresses now come with a lining, thus rendering slips redundant. Since the late 20th century, dresses closely based on slips have become very popular.

With change in times, some slip and half-slip also changed their design and use of different material to incorporate some form of shapewear function to help shape the body of a woman while still providing the function that it was suppose to do, which is to offer some form of modesty and also protection of skin while helping the dress and skirt to hang loose. 

Slip and half-slip do not only have to be worn as internal wear underneath normal clothing; for some ladies, they wear slip or half-slip as a bedtime wear, which is quite comfy and cooling because of the material used. Some ladies match their half-slip with a camisole top as their sleepwear as it offers intimate yet nice and smooth feeling on the skin. Hopefully more ladies and CDs will consider wearing slip or half-slip in the future. Cheers and Happy New Year.

Portrait of a Lady - Part 5 (Dresses and Gowns)

Going into part five on the topic of Portrait of a Lady, following skirts, we are going to take a look at dresses and gowns. There are a few sayings, firstly, a lady should always have a little black dress (commonly termed as LBD) inside her closet, I guess we all heard that before. Next, a lady is the most beautiful when she put on her wedding gown, this makes us wonder, what is with dresses and gowns that make them so popular in fashion sense and important in accentuating the lady-like characteristics. 

A dress, also known as a frock or a gown, is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). It consists of a top piece that covers the torso and hangs down over the legs. A dress can be any one-piece garment containing a skirt of any length, and can be formal or casual. A dress can have sleeves, straps, or be held up with elastic around the chest, leaving the shoulders bare. Dresses also vary in color. The hemlines of dresses vary depending on modesty, weather, fashion or the personal taste of the wearer. Technically speaking, a dress is just a piece garment covering from the top and bottom of the body and it comes with various tops and hemlines.

Talking about the influence from both Eastern and Western world, each culture has their influence and their own dress design but as we can see from the pictures below, the most representative dress from the East is the Cheongsam also known as QiPao and I had did a full post on that previously. From the Western culture, we can see the modern dress designs are heavily influenced by them, from bodycon dress to peplum design or ball gown, we can see more of the dress designs take their reference from the West.

Either for professional activities like doing work, or attending prom or wedding, a nice dress show always bring out the best attributes in a lady. A sundress is usually worn to showcase a casual and sassy looks, an evening dress or ball gown portraits elegance and grace, a bodycon to highlight the hourly figure of the wearer. There is always a dress for every occasion. Quite similar to skirts, dresses also come with varying hemlines, which have similar connotations, e.g. micro, mini, above knee and so on. So depending on the different occasion, a lady should put on the suitable dress to match the appropriate function.   

A lady should always don on a modest dress when out in public to display her posh and poised composure. Of course, who can forget about the importance of hosiery to go along with it. One classic example of a lady in dress and pantyhose is the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, as seen in the picture below. You can see how the sheer black pantyhose just add that finishing touch to that dress and matching colour heels... If you want to check out the different dresses that the Duchess wear for the different occasions, you can check them out here. 

While wearing a dress with mini hemline, pantyhose is a must for a lady to protect her modesty, some may wonder, if you are wearing a long dress or gown, should you still put on hosiery? There is no hard and fast rule as most of the legs are covered by the dress but according to the recommendation from this website, the answer is a YES. A nice pair of stocking with garter belt will definitely be great as it not only can keep your legs warm and prevent abrasion between the sole on the feet and the shoes, it definitely makes you feel gorgeous and sexy underneath.

As to pairing dresses with gloves, it is not common to see ladies wearing gloves while donning on their normal everyday dresses. However, depending on the occasion, gloves of different length goes well with the type of dresses or gowns you are wearing and definitely add on a layer of grace and fashion. For instance, when you are wearing an evening dress or a ballroom gown, a nice matching pair of long satin opera gloves is always a must as it just add on that alluring and elegance style, and it complements that gown you are wearing. 

There are so many types of dress or gown with varying design and ladies are spoiled for choices as there is always a dress or gown for every occasion. But as I had mentioned at the start, a lady should have a Little Black Dress in her wardrobe, and probably a nice ballroom gown for formal occasion. Last but not least, let us end of this post by seeing how a nice pair of satin opera gloves together with a nice pair pantyhose help to complete the dress as a whole. 

Portrait of a Lady - Part 4 (Skirt)

This is part four of "Portrait of a Lady", I am going to talk about skirts. Skirts are garments fastened around the waist and hanging down around the legs, worn by women and girls. They come in various lengths and designs. It is the lower part of a dress/gown or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. 

The history of skirts can be traced back to prehistorical times when cavemen of both gender worn straw-woven skirt or animal skins to cover up their private areas. As time progresses and human started to get civilised, each culture, both Western and Eastern developed their own style. From the skirt of the Hanfu worn around Han dynasty from the East, to the hoop skirts worn during Victorian times from the West, skirts are generally worn to cover most parts of the legs as a form of modesty, which is what a lady must always do. 

Fast forwarding to modern times, skirts design started a dramatic change, the length of skirts begun to become shorter. However, the hemline of skirts can vary from micro to floor-length and can vary according to cultural conceptions of modesty and aesthetics as well as the wearer's personal taste, which can be influenced by such factors as fashion and social context. Most skirts are self-standing garments, but some skirt-looking panels may be part of another garment such as leggings, shorts, and swimsuits. The design of modern skirts vary as can be seen from the pictorial descriptors below.

In modern context, skirts are popularly worn by the fairer gender but as mentioned above, skirts were worn by both male and female since ancient times. Skirts are still worn by men and women from many cultures, such as the lungi, lehnga, kanga and sarong worn in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and the kilt worn in Scotland and Ireland. However, the stigma of modern people viewed skirts must be worn by female and this puts any male who donned on skirts as crossdresser or weird. However, in a recent post, a 61 years old straight and married man was challenging gender norms and wears skirts to work every day. That is a good start for the CD community.

Back to the topic of skirts and how it can accentuate the charm of a lady. A lady should wear skirts that are modest yet alluring at the same time. Typically, skirts that are long, covering up to the ankle, can be viewed as conservative while skirts that are more than 6 inches (or 15 centimeter) above knee cap (while standing) can be viewed as slutty or unprofessional. In my view, a lady's skirt length should be around knee cap length, exposing the shin and should not be too high as the skirt will ride up when she sits down. A skirt with the hemline that is around 6 inches above the knee cap (measured while standing up) will ride up around 2 inches, so after sitting down, around 8 inches of your thigh that is above the knee cap will be exposed. That, in my opinion, should be the maximum among of "flesh" that a lady can expose to maintain decency and modesty. You can check out this poll on how short is too short for a skirt. 

The reason the skirt rides up is because it is too tight. Any piece of clothing that is too tight will ride up or move to a smaller part of the body to accommodate less tension and strain on the fabric. However, skirts should be worn fitting enough to highlight the slim waistline and gorgeous hips in order to showcase the feminine and appealing side of a lady. A pencil skirt of around knee cap to slight above knee cap will be the ideal design and length for a lady, a mini skirt is still permissible as long as it still in moderation. Tie that skirt in with a satin white blouse on the top, and a nice pair of matching stockings or pantyhose and a suitable pumps or stilettos, you got the looks to knock any man off their feet with this feminine yet professional looks. 

The photos below show the various skirt length and how the differing length brings out the character and charm of the lady especially when the skirt hemline becomes shorter, it adds that element of tease yet add that flavour of reserve and modest. The type of footwear to go with the skirt is also plays an important role to accent the beauty of the lady. 

While the skirts cover enough of the thigh, the footwear helps to focus on the calf and ankle. The looks will be perfected if the lady wear some nude pantyhose which leave the men wondering if the lady is covering up her legs. It is such a captivating sight... As a lady, always wear a skirt that is fitting to the waist and hip, it should hug and cover her lower half of the body nicely. The length of the skirt should cover a good portion of the thigh and long enough to cater for ride up when she sits down, around the knee length or slightly above is ideal. Hence, pencil skirts will be the best. Of course, in order to maintain her elegance and modesty while wearing the skirt, a lady must always put on a nice pair of pantyhose. The pantyhose should be simple design and solid colour, nothing too fanciful in order to showcase her maturity and beauty. Now, to complete the looks, the pantyhose feet should be wearing a nice matching pair of covered heels, it can be patent or matt finish, does not matter. And with that, it can definitely can help to bring out the lady in you. 😉

For further reading about skirts, you can check out this post "Let's Over-Analyze Skirts!" as it bears interesting insights about skirts. Enjoy. 😃

Portrait of a Lady - Part 3 (Heels)

In my third part of "Portrait of a Lady", I am going to talk about heels. High heels are a type of shoe in which the heel is significantly higher off the ground as compared with the toe. They make the wearer appear taller, accentuates the muscle tone in their legs and makes their legs appear visibly taller. There are many types of high heels, which come in different styles, colors and materials, and can be found all over the world. They have significant cultural and fashionable meanings attached to them, which have been largely shaped by historical contexts over the past 1,000 years. 

The influence of heels came mainly from the Western world as Eastern culture footwear design tends to be simplistic with the exception of those footbinding shoes or heels worn by ladies in court during the Qing dynasty. As time progresses, I feel that the Western world designed heels are more widely accepted as it is more practical.  

Looking at the list above, there are so many types of heels. In my view, a lady should always wear covered heels, be it a pump or stiletto. Maybe because I am not a fan of open toe/peep toe heels or even sandals, I feel that it is not graceful to show people the toes. On top of that, if a lady is wearing pantyhose, the seams at the footed toe area will show especially if she is wearing those open toes type of heels, it does not really go well as shown below.

However, I feel that much of it really depends on what you wear on the top. There are also some cases of exception especially when the open toe heels and those seamless pantyhose can complement each other well... For example, a high class and glamourous sandals with a matching nude pantyhose. Or the lady can simply learn some tricks while wearing nude sheer pantyhose with open toed heels.

Look at the picture above, the woman does have a pair of flawless legs, which are nicely tan. As you follow the legs from the thigh down to the ankle area, you will see those veins that are popping out and the sandals just show off the toes. The girl is pretty but she lacks that finishing touch to beautify her. If she put on a nice pair of nude pantyhose, it will look so much complete as shown in the picture below (note, the picture below belongs to another model, but just trying to draw a reference here). 

The height of the heels depends on the occasion, for normal work or practical use, a low heels around 3 to 6cm is ideal. As work is about professionalism and formality, fully covered toes heels and nude pantyhose are a must. Just look at the pictures below and see how the nude pantyhose helps to smoothen out the blemishes and veins around the ankles while the black covered heels just add in that formal yet feminine, powerful yet charming looks for the Office Lady (OL)... 

In a professional setting such as work, sandals are a big NO NO but peep toe heels is still acceptable to a certain degree. As shown in the picture below where the lady is wearing a nude pantyhose and a black peep toe heels, it is still palatable and pleasant. Imagine her wearing a pair of sandals in this outfit, it will be quite a mismatch that will totally ruin the looks. 

For more formal events, a slightly higher heels will be good to accentuate the height of the lady and making her more elegance and graceful. A stiletto of 8 to 11cm will be ideal for these occasions, making a lady looking ever so posh and classy. The dress or gown must match with the hosiery and heels, working together as a package to keep the image of a lady in a grand and generous way as shown in the pictures below. 

To end off, a nice pair of heels needs a matching hosiery to supplement it, just like how a nice cup of coffee complements butter toast in a breakfast set, you need to know how to match them and bring out the most feminine and beautiful aspect of a lady. 

Portrait of a Lady - Part 2 (Cheongsam or Qipao)

Another post that will be full of pictures and images. In the previous part, we looked at the Western culture of wearing hosiery and gloves can bring out the feminine aspect of a lady. Now we will look at the Eastern influence or what garment can help to turn an average girl into an alluring lady. 

Cheongsam (Qipao)

There is nothing more sexy and feminine than a fitting piece of cheongsam or qipao that can accentuate the asset and beauty of a woman. The cheongsam, also known as the qipao, is a type of feminine body-hugging dress with distinctive Chinese features of Manchu origin. It was known as the mandarin gown during the 1920s and 1930s, popularised by Chinese socialites and upper-class women in Shanghai. You can watch the Youtube video below to see how cheongsam just add on that grace and beauty to the lady in the MTV.

Many view the Eastern thinking and culture as conservative in their dress and fashion sense but the cheongsam seems to be otherwise. The most important aspect of the cheongsam is that it must be fitting to the body and must not be too loose. The proportion must be matching so that the cheongsam can highlight the key assets of the lady's figure, her bust and hip, the mark of fertility and feminism. On top of that, the cheongsam also give prominence to the slim waistline to a lady, showing that despite of her voluptuous assets, she is also mindful of her figure. See the picture below to see how the cheongsam just emphasize all those hallmarks of a curvaceous and sexually attractive lady...

Besides the body hugging attributes of the cheongsam, another important feature to these cheongsam are slits  at sides of the gown. I believe that the original slits are not that high but as influenced by time and fashion, the slits cut became higher and higher, reaching up the the thigh and hip. Those high-slit cuts reaching top of the thigh and hip just added another dimension of attractiveness to this garment. The length of the traditional cheongsam usually cover the lady's leg to between the knee cap and ankle. This adds a layer of modesty to the lady and those high-cut slits, which is used to allow mobility in the ladies, expose the other feature of a lady's allurement, her well-figured hip and also her beautiful legs as shown in the pictures below.

With so much flesh exposed on the legs, as what every fine and modest lady should do, it is always important cover them up with a nice pair of sheer pantyhose, be nude, suntan or coffee colour, or even just a nice pair of nude coloured tights to do the trick. As for those who want to leave the men wanting for more, a nice pair of stay-on stockings or stockings with garter belt will just turn up the heat especially when you "expose them accidently"... You can see the effects of pantyhose together with a colour matching cheongsam in the pictures below. It just tease you by "covering up sufficiently but leaving the rest to your imagination" effect...

I feel that in order to complete portrait of a lady, we should put in the essence of the different garments to bring out the best. As we had seen previously, adding a pair of opera gloves can add elegance and class to a lady based on the gown she is wearing. Now, pairing opera gloves together with cheongsam has a different feel. A mix of tradition and class, sophisticated yet graceful. A woman wearing a cheongsam is already quite posh, by putting on a nice pair of satin opera gloves, it is not just about fashion, it is adding that finishing touch to the complete the stature of a lady as you can see from the pictures below.

Now, combining all the three garments that I talked about, cheongsam, pantyhose and satin opera gloves together. That is just divine... However, It is quite hard to find pictures of a lady in all three, or at least, I believe in some of the photos, the lady might be wearing nude pantyhose but it is not obvious. This is the best I can offer, Anna Williams from the Tekken game series. See that fiery red cheongsam together with a nice matching red opera gloves and sheer black pantyhose with a nice pair of red heels. That is a distinction of a lady. For the next post, I will talk about heels. Stay tune. 😀