The underwear that helped shape women's figures throughout the ages: Trends from high-waisted knickers in the Fifties to thongs in the Nineties revealed in new book

• Costume historian Lucy Adlington has documented the changing trends
• From boyish figures in the 1920s to curvy shapes in the 1940s
• Men have also used underwear to cheat with corsets popular in some eras

By Phoebe Jackson-edwards For Mailonline

Published: 02:56 EST, 15 October 2015 | Updated: 11:59 EST, 15 October 2015

The lengths to which women have gone in search of the perfect figure has been explored in a fascinating new book examining the evolution of underwear over the ages.

The last 200 years has seen a dizzying amount of change as women progressed from boosting their curves with corsets and bum rolls in the late 18th century, to wearing the barely-there nude and wireless bras of today.

Costume historian Lucy Adlington, who has documented the fads in new book Stitches in Time: The Story Of The Clothes We Wear, says that Kim Kardashian would have been all the rage in the late 1700s with her voluptuous figure.

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Even in the swinging Sixties, girdles were worn under mini dresses as an equivalent to modern-day Spanx

'Bullet bras' of the 1940s were to give the impression of fashionably perky breasts

Lucy told FEMAIL: 'There's nothing natural about the fashionable figure. 

'Throughout history women and men have padded or flattened their bodies to create whatever shape is in vogue. 

'This might mean thunder thighs and huge bosoms, or skinny silhouettes and flat chests. According to the whim of fashion. 

'Kim Kardashian would have been bang on-trend in the late 18th century, and a freak in the 1920s. 

'Women have squeezed themselves into elastic tubes, or stiffly-boned corsets. They've worn bum rolls and breast-plumpers, bustle pads and crinoline cages. 

'Since there's nothing new under the sun, the modern body can be controlled or enhanced by shapewear or hours at the gym.'

Lucy Adlington laces Meridith Towne into a replica Edwardian corset to create a tiny waist

'Winding up the ladies' mocks the idea of tight-lacing in the 1830s, left, and the use of bustles is mocked, right

Lucy wears replica underwear from the 1780s, featuring a cone-shaped corset and a padded bum roll

In Edwardian times, a tiny waist was the fashion which was achieved with a tightly pulled corset.

In the 1800s, large crinolines and bustles gave gave volume to the lower half.

But by the 1920s, the new body ideal was waspish and thin. Corsets now created a boyish figure by flattening down any shape.

In the 1930s, a girdle was supposed to hold it all in but actually created muffin-tops for women wearing them.  

An original early 1920s corset, which was extremely restrictive for a waspish figure

A 1927 corset is advertised which aims to flatten the figure completely for a boyish silhouette

A 1930s elastic 'roll on' girdle was ugly and uncomfortable (and created muffin tops)

This 1946 Gossard bra was supposedly just the sort of thing for an office worker to wear

A catalogue image from the 1940s shows a corselette to create curves and smooth down any flab

A 1940s bullet bra is advertised to 'lift' the chest and promises no 'side flesh' sag

False inserts are advertised in Vogue, 1950, to give an 'uplifted bust line' when the voluptuous figure was fashionable and women were trying to achieve it

A woman sports high-waisted pants with a very padded bra in the 1950s, where like the 1940s, the focus was on the chest

A model in the 1950s wears a padded bra and a short petticoat with stockings

By the 1960s, a waifish figure was in thanks to models like Twiggy and women wanted to be petite

In the 1970s, unpadded bras were the fashion with a softer girdle and more sensual with the addition of stockings and suspenders

Women chose softer lingerie is the 1970s like this triangle bra, right, in nude colour

In the 1980s women were wearing a rather granny-style bra with lots of structure

These silky illustrations from a 1980s advert show the 1980s were all about glamour

By the 1940s, a womanly shape was back in fashion. Bullet bras showed an emphasis on the chest and in the 1950s, women resorted to padded inserts to give the ideal figure and the bussom was the most coveted part of the body.

Even by the 1960s women were celebrating more freedom in clothing with short skirts but still wearing girdles. 

A waspish figure came back in with the advent of models like Twiggy so it was about flattening the waist and less about cleavage.

In the 1970s, a more relaxed silhouette came as attitudes about sex softened and women embraced more of a natural silhouette.

But by the 1980s, the glamorous era brought back in plenty of structure as bras became the focus once more. The glamour continued with babydoll nighties and silky fabrics all regularly advertised.

In the 1990s, it was all about the bra and Wonderbra introduced their push-up bra which became an essential to cheating the perfect cleavage

In the 1990s, thongs and g-strings, pictured, became de rigeur and a model in the Victoria's Secrets show wears a revealing satin bra

Barbara Palvin in the 2012 Victoria's Secret campaign shows a softer side to lingerie but still boasts a padded bra to increase the wearer's chest and is still the norm for most women

A bustle cage from the 1880s compared to modern foam-moulded buttock-enhancing pants which became popular in 2012 after a bigger posterior came into fashion

But onto the 1990s, and it was all about the wow factor. The Wonderbra brought push-up bras into the mainstream with maximum padding and plenty of cleavage on show.

The brand's influential campaign with supermodel Eva Herzigova launched in 1994 and the billboards drew such attention with the slogan 'Hello boys,' there were car crashes caused by distracted drivers.

Thongs and g-strings to avoid any visible panty line became the norm and to enhance the shape of the derrière.

Since the millennium, the look has softened with padded bras still the most worn to enhance the bust - but severe g-strings are no longer the fashion.

In 2013, bum-enhancing pants came on sale with padded inserts to give the illusion of a rounder posterior, which Lucy compared to the bustle cages of the 1800s.

She said: 'Are the outlandish underwear items from the past any more bizarre than resorting to plastic surgery to create the fashionable form?'

Men have padded many parts of their bodies in history, including their calves

An Edwardian male corset held in any excess flab on the stomach for gentlemen 

Airmen of the Second World War could brace themselves with a body belt corset

Knitted 'riot pants' issued to the Cornwall Constabulary, complete with plastic groin protector

It's not only women who have sported underwear to create the ideal body.

Lucy said: 'Across history, men have sported false bellies, cod-pieces, wool-wadded legs, wasp-waist corsets and (even now) padded shoulders.'

Men have padded many parts of their bodies, including their calves, over the ages and even been subject to corsets themselves.

Men in Edwardian times wore corsets and men in World War II wore a corset too in order to tone the muscles.

While men in the line of duty were even issued with 'riot pants' in Cornwall Constabulary complete with a plastic groin protector. 

Stitches In Time - The Story Of The Clothes We Wear by Lucy Adlington is out now by Random House.

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