A girdle is a mostly elastic, light form of underwear that mainly women use to make themselves look thinner from the waist down. Yes, as a matter of fact, men wear them too. Among women, girdles gained their popularity widely in the fifties, mainly because of Hollywood and the fact that they did not have as many fastenings and ties to hassle with while putting them on, as opposed to the corset.. The girdle helped achieve a woman’s idea of glamour through making them look like the stars. The roll-on is a type of girdle that very much resembled waist high panties, and on occasion had legs attached in order to slim the thighs down. The girdle was originally thought up as an alternative to corsets. The girdle does what the corset cannot and is by far much more comfortable, lightweight with a much simpler process to get dressed in it. To this day, girdles are used across the country in an attempt to appear thinner. Many department stores carry them, although they may be a bit hard to come across, as they are usually classified as a “specialty item”.

The girdle's popularity began to fade in the sixties due to newer, more advanced undergarments. However, celebrities and their fashion trends are unpredictable, so who would have known they'd be back today. Thanks to celebs like Lady Gaga and Madonna, the girdle has come back, although it has been much more modernized than it was when it was introduced, it is still gaining popularity yet again much like it did in te fifties. The only difference is this time around the movie stars weren't the ones responsible for the boom.

Nowadays, women also have a plethora of undergarments to choose from. From the multiple varieties of bra, panties and tummy-tuck slip on part-girdles, if you will. The ways for a woman to modify her looks are practically endless.