Clothing names

I hate the word frock, haven’t heard it in years

I thought trousers was always used in the UK and am surprised some people say pants here. Slacks is an old fashioned word for women's trousers.
I'm also surprised some people still say frock. My grandmother used to say it, as did my old fashioned MIL. My DGM also said costume for suit. I've not heard that one for years.
I had ski pants as a child but does anyone else remember them being revived in the 90s? I liked wearing them as I was skinny and they fitted better than other trousers.

Welbeck, I think you are probably right, a Liberty bodice was a sort of descendant of the corset, the woven strips that I previously described may well have been used originally for the dreaded whale bones. However they were definitely worn for warmth, so possibly the reason that little boys didn’t wear them was the same reason as why they wore short trousers for the first few years - to toughen them up!

Missfoodlove

When I moved to Lancashire from Yorkshire I was baffled by pants!
In Lancashire these are trousers or jeans in Yorkshire pants are underwear.

That's funny Missfoodlove, when I gre up in Lancashire, trousers were known as kecks!

i had no idea what a liberty bodice was until i read GN, and i'm quite as old as some of you.
it still gives me a kind of shudder of distaste; it sounds so euphemistic, i feel it is a kind of strait-jacket., a kind of get them used to it junior corset. something constricting.
can't believe it was for the cold, if so why didn't boys wear it.
just wear an extra long woolly vest or similar for the cold.
as for stockings being attached, for 10 year olds! we wore long sox until over 13, that was uniform, and by then thin tights had come in, one piece right up to waist. i have never worn anything like suspenders, sounds a bit sleazy to me.
as for the word panties, no no no. soft porn word.

Baggs

^How about...galoshes, mackintoshes, duffle coats ( with toggles) Guernseys^

I'm wearing a Guernsey (Gansey) right now. I've had it for 23 years.

Baggs
Mine are 35 years old. The tan coloured one has the name of the boat ( that was my home) embroidered on it.
Not by me, I have to add. I had it done at the boat show.
Wayzegoose. It’s an old word for a printers outing.

Another function of the liberty bodice was that it held your stockings up, as it was equipped with suspenders, at any rate if you were ten or older and wearing long stockings to school.

My liberty bodices were of off-white flannel with a fleecy inside. They did absolutely nothing for a thirteen year old figure, as they squashed your budding bosom flat!

I personally dislike a top being used of an article of clothing,

I always want to say, "Oh for heaven's sake call it what it is! Is it a jumper, shirt, shirt-blouse, blouse, cardigan, sweat-shirt or t-shirt? Or did you really mean a sun-top? Or a pyjama-top?"

A top - one word does for all. This is what I call "lazy language", convenient to the user who knows what she or he means, but conveying nothing at all to the listener, or reader.

Oh dear, I do seem to have spent too long teaching English, don't I?

Surely the ugliest clothes word ever has to be ...... (drum roll)....sweatpants. Yuk!

I’m remembering back to the 60s when my Canadian cousins came to us for a summer holiday. Several family groups were gathered in our house including a large group of local cousins. We were about to go out for a day trip together when my my Canadian cousin searched around the room before announcing “ has anyone seen my fanny pack?

After much giggling we realised it was what we’d known as a bum bag.

This thread reminds me of the time my brother, who lives in Australia, told me he was wearing thongs! Apparently that is what they call flip flops - I think I needed therapy to get that picture out of my head

My DF was in the rag trade and the word "frock" was forbidden in our house. Not sure if it was his personal preference or if it was the trade usage. I don't think it's a very nice word (sounds like frog) anyway, and if you're trying to sell one you probably would avoid it.

Back in the 60s his range always included a couple of cocktail dresses - remember those? And a selection of DJ's, which stood for dress and jacket. The sort of thing mother of the groom (or grandmother!) might wear.

Everyone in my neck of the woods knows whatt I’m talking about when I say I’m going to put my Daps on !

Blimey,i haven`t heard the term frock for years.
My G/ma used that term but i knew what she meant avan though my mother used the term dress.

I use dressing gown for what you put on over your p.j.s or nightie.
A housecoat to me is what housewives used to wear in the fifties to do their housework in, along with a headscarf over their rollers! Hilda Ogden style.

lovebeigecardigans1955 'tuck vest inside pants' do you mean you tuck your vest in your knickers or in your trousers? ha ha

Dressing Gown or House Coat ?

I’m firmly in the ‘Dressing Gown’ camp and I’ve only known one or two people in my life call it a House Coat.

I’m not sure if this is regional or not.

Oh Trisha57, how awful for you!

In the later 1960s, flares and bell bottoms were taking the fashion world by storm. My uncle was a tailor and my mum told me she had asked him to make me a pair of trousers to wear at the Christmas school "do", which took place during the afternoon of the last day at school. Lo and behold, I was presented with a pair of tartan ski pants complete with elastic to go under the feet. I think that year I spent most of that day at school in tears being mercilessly ridiculed and bullied by the fashionable set. I've always hated them since!

I wore a different kind of Liberty bodice. It was made of light wool, looked just like a vest, but had stripes of a woven material going down from each shoulder. My mother bought this type because the rubbery buttons on the other kind seemingly melted out of shape in time, and also it saved time in doing up the buttons. I think the ‘stripes’ were a throw back from the days when everything was boned, and these were a final sap towards encouraging good posture. I think they came into use in the twenties when corsets were discarded in wild abandon.

I think I stopped wearing my Liberty bodice when I was about 8 or 9 and my vest when I hit the heady days of being a teenager after a long period of tussle with my mother about wearing it. Late 50s teenagers like today’s, would rather freeze than wear something that wasn’t cool!

grandmajet - a jerkin is a leather waistcoat/gillet as far as I'm concerned!

grannyrebel yes. Irritating to have sleeves referred to as arms.

I wore on as a child in late 50s. An extra layer that went on in winter. On top of the vest and under the full length petticoat.

No central heating and just a coal fire in the main livingroom.
My mum used to heat our clothes on the fire guard every morning.

I think the buttons were rubber so the garment could be put through the mangle without damage. I remember I used to try to pull it on and off without opening the buttons.

Does anyone know what liberty bodices were for? I remember lots of little rubber buttons, I remember not wanting to wear it, I think it went over my vest and under my other clothes, but what were the rubber buttons for? If it was just to keep us warm, why was it so complicated? Was it some kind of IQ test do you think? Can you put on your liberty bodice?!

Swimming costumes are bathers in our state. Different in other parts of Australia. Of course there’s the budgie smugglers,too ! They are the short ones that Tony Abbott ex pm used to wear.

In Canada you would first put on;
bra and underwear (panties is totally acceptable, in fact shown on websites)
Camisole (silky) or undershirt (cotton) to keep warm under:
a sweater or cardigan
then on bottom pants, jeans or leggings

You might put on a vest as an outer layer to keep warm, puffer vests are the rage now.
Jersey is more of a material than an item of clothing. It is a fine knit.
Bathing suit to swim.
Trousers are men's dress pants, part of a suit.

Interesting topic. And yes I also hate when people say arms instead of sleeves.