Dear Susan MacDonald,

Thank you for your wonderful web site, which is obviously eagerly awaited for each quarter.  It was particularly enjoyable to see the reproduction of the Myer Emporium advertisements for lingerie, dating back to the late sixties. Your dating of them was spot on, with prices being quoted in pounds shillings and pence, and in the then new decimal currency, a changeover which occurred in February 1966.

I am sure that many of your readers will lament the passing of some of the brand names appearing there, particularly Prestige, which produced fine silky undies at moderate prices.

We are really bereft in Melbourne these days of manufacturers who produce the type of products sought after by many readers. For a few years in the 80s and early 90s we were fortunate to have the high quality manufacturer Warner's, but, alas, they were taken over by Sarah Lee, a manufacturer of food products, and production of the fine Warner's lingerie was confined to the discontinued lines!

Of interest in the ads too was the sizing, which in these days was classified with letters such as SSW, to signify small small women's, rather than today's numbering system. Changes in terminology are interesting too, with ladies' briefs being referred to as panties, gussies, and scanties; the latter today meaning French knickers or tap pants.

We certainly had an array of fine lingerie products in the 50s and 60s, when there seems to have been a proliferation of mothers and sisters who could not resist the temptation to put sons and younger brothers into their silky underthings. What fear must have been struck into many a small boy's heart when he saw his mother taking out one of those delightfully boxed slip and gussie sets labeled SSW, when he clearly knew that there was no female in the house who could possibly fit into such petite sizes.

My initial introduction occurred when my mother had taken me to visit her friend Edna, who lived in Footscray. While playing outside I took a tumble into an ornamental pond, completely soaking my clothes from the waist down. As we lived in Hawthorn, it was quite impossible to quickly return home and retrieve replacement clothing, so Edna offered to find me 'something to wear'. Although I was only seven years old, the events which followed are indelibly etched in my memory.

I was taken into Edna's bedroom, where she produced a small size pair of ladies' panties, and gave them to my mother to put on me. My mother did not hesitate, adding that she would launder the panties and post them back. However, Edna's reply left me absolutely gobsmacked. She looked at me smiling, and and said, 'Don't bother doing that. They are far too small for me; keep them, and he can wear them for underpants'.

This suggestion was not lost on my mother, who did exactly that, and whilst I had two older sisters who could have worn them, these panties became a regular part of my underclothing for the next two years.

My addiction was complete by the time I was about ten years old, but I certainly was not alone. One of my close school friends confided that, if he ran out of his own underwear, his mother would produce a pair of her silky panties for him to wear under his school uniform. On another occasion too, which I remember clearly, the sister of a boy in my class told her girlfriends that her young brother was wearing a pair of her panties, and the girls gathered around and teased him mercilessly. I also knew of a boy whose mother would punish him by making him wear a pair of her frilly gussies if he misbehaved, even when he was twelve and thirteen years old. So I think that petticoating was rife in the 50s and 60s, and for many of us it became a totally incurable practice.

Well, this letter has gone on somewhat, and I will certainly not be offended if you elect not to publish any of it. However, I do have a couple of stories, one based on another factual experience when I was twelve years old, and another which is more a fantasy, if you would like to receive them.
Keep up the superb work at 'Petticoat Discipline Quarterly'.

Brian
Camberwell, Victoria

Brian's letter provides a fascinating glimpse of petticoat discipline in the 50s and 60s, when female underclothing was still modest, and really gorgeous, yet reasonably priced. Barry's lovingly preserved collection of undies ads has provoked enormous interest, and the site statistics show that that page is amongst the most visited. On the Bulletin Board Michelle has even posted the following: "Petticoat Discipline Quarterly has posted lady panty ads from the 60s. In them are panties called 'gussies'. They are adorable, with lots of lace at the leg bands. Anyone know if they still make them anywhere?"

I wish somebody did still make beautifully boxed, and tissue paper-wrapped, silky nylon slip and gussie sets! I don't know of any sources. Can any reader help? And Brian, I would have liked to contact you, but I had no postal address or email address. Please do write again. Your letter was an excellent addition to our growing archive of letters about all aspects of petticoat discipline.
Susan