Watch Women Try on Historic Undergarments

"I do feel I've been unwillingly put into a condom."

Historic undergarments
(Image credit: Marie Claire)

The good folks at Facts recently asked a few women to try on undergarments from different years throughout history, and the results might almost make you feel grateful for your padded bra...almost. 

Behold the hoop skirt and stay of the 15th and 16th centuries, which are fairly restrictive in movement but are pretty generous in the boob area.

Historic undergarments

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Then there's the Victorian corset and the bustle that's all about that bass. 

Historic undergarments

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Followed by the free-flowing bloomers and bra of the early 1900s that offer no support whatsoever. 

Historic undergarments

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

What's interesting is that the video doesn't end there. As progressive as we think we are, modern contraptions for a woman's body like the ass-enhancers and waist-trainers are just as uncomfortable, if not more so, than their predecessors. 

Historic undergarment

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Historic undergarments

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

"If I had to wear this everyday it would be just as restricting, if not more, because you have to deal with the smell of rubber," one of the girls said about the waist trainer. 

"It's like it started restrictive and then went really free-flowing and feminist and then went back to restrictive again," another girl observed. 

The news is that fashion tends to move in cycles—so grab your bloomers now. 

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Diana Bruk
Viral Content Editor

My writing has regularly appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Salon, VICE, Guernica, The New York Observer, BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Esquire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and many more publications.

I was previously the Senior News Editor at Best Life Online and the Viral Content Editor in the Newsroom of Hearst Digital Media. My portfolio consists of a vast and diverse body of work that includes personal essays, lifestyle articles, breaking news posts, and viral content. My areas of expertise, however, are Russia, sex and relationships, and mental wellness.