Figure 1.--This advertisement offers three different brands of garter waists, which seem to be of the Dr. Parker style, although this term is not used. The illustration shows a boy and a girl both wearing garter waists made of white webbing with suspenders and a strap across the chest to keep the shoulder straps from slipping off. The suspenders are attached to a belt with waist buttons for attaching trousers (either knickers or shorts) and skirts. A little extension over the hips is also shown with pinning tubes to which the safety-pins of hose supporters are attached.

This ad for children's garter waists appeared in the Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, Kansas, April 15, 1925, page 3. This advertisement offers three different brands of garter waists, which seem to be of the Dr. Parker style, although this term is not used. The illustration shows a boy and a girl both wearing garter waists made of white webbing with suspenders and a strap across the chest to keep the shoulder straps from slipping off. The suspenders are attached to a belt with waist buttons for attaching trousers (either knickers or shorts) and skirts. A little extension over the hips is also shown with pinning tubes to which the safety-pins of hose supporters are attached. This kind of garter waist seems to have the most common means of supporting long stockings for boys and girls from age 2 to 14, although regular underwaists with supporter attachments were also much in demand.

Brands

This advertisement offers three different brands of garter waists, which seem to be of the Dr. Parker style, although this term is not used. There were three brands offered here: Kern, Trufit, and Warner. The Kern hosde supporters were made by the Frank Kern Compasny. We have no informastion on Trufit, but we have hear of Truworthy. The Warner supporters was made by Warner Brothers.

Suspender Waists

Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments. So-called “suspender waists” were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mainly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings—almost always black. Although some models of the suspender waist (such as Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys. They were called “suspender waists” because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and had leather suspender attachments for holding up knee pants in addition to hose supporters for long stockings. The style did not last very long and was most popular during the 1910s. N.B. Suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing), and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt. A good example is a 1918 ad for Kazoo suspender waists. The 1918 ad shows a boy actually wearing the suspender waist, and we also see his younger sisters wearing a different version made for girls. A 1919 ad for Kazoo suspender waists gives a diagram illustrating how the suspenders actually attach to the trousers and illustrates in addition what the masculine appeal of the Kazoo was for boys who might still be forced by their mothers to wear the younger boy's standard underwaists. Another brand was the Sampson suspender waist.

Construction

The illustration shows a boy and a girl both wearing garter waists made of white webbing with suspenders and a strap across the chest to keep the shoulder straps from slipping off. The suspenders are attached to a belt with waist buttons for attaching trousers (either knickers or shorts) and skirts. A little extension over the hips is also shown with pinning tubes to which the safety-pins of hose supporters are attached. This kind of garter waist seems to have the most common means of supporting long stockings for boys and girls from age 2 to 14, although regular underwaists with supporter attachments were also much in demand.

Products

Here we have three different brands of garter waists advertised, apparently of similar design but of descending quality. All three brands were on sale at Rorbaugh-Wiley's Spring sale. Rorbaugh-Wiley was a department store in Hutchinson. Warner's waist, usually a 75 cent value, could be had for 55 cents. Trufit Supporters, ordinarily 50 cents, were on sale for 42 cents. Kern's Supporters, also at 50 cents, were available for 35 cents. The upper part of these waists was made of non-elastic straps with a wide sateen belt. The supporters themselves were made of elastic, sometimes with non-elastic double pendants. The more expensive supporters were elastic throughout. All these garter waists have detachable supporters which are fastened to the waists by safety pins at the top of the garters to pin tubes at each side of the waist. The detachability allowed mothers to replace worn-out supporters without discarding the waist itself and therefore was an economy measure.

Ad Copy

The ad was captioned, "Womens' and Children's Quality Hose Supporters". The ad copy read, " 75 cent Warner's Supporters--Perfection Brand skeleton supporters. Sizes 2 to 14. Special 55 cents. 50 cent Trufit Supporters--Waist style supporters in sizes 2 to 13 years. Special 42 cents. 59 cent Kern's Supporters--Chilodren's stocking supporters; weight falls on shoulders. Special 35 cents."

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Created: 9:57 PM 4/22/2010
Last updated: 6:35 AM 5/4/2010