By Ogova Ondego
Published May 15, 2025

The need for full- and half-slips that had become a status symbol was reduced at the turn of the 20th century as the fabrics from which dresses and skirts became less transparent and more form-fitting while manufacturers not only lined dresses and skirts but also attached petticoats to many of them.The practice of wearing petticoats, underskirts or slips as essential and required underwear for women around the world, has ended almost 500 years after its introduction in 16th century England.

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But just what is a petticoat (petty coat)?

A petticoat or Kamisi as it is also known in Kenyan Bantu languages:

  • is a light garment worn under a skirt or a dress
  • hangs on the body from the shoulders or waist
  • is full length or waist slip
  • was initially worn for warmth
  • protected expensive outer garments from oily bodies
  • provided an extra layer of coverage under see-through, lightweight or clingy fabrics, and
  • was a symbol of modesty and femininity in the 20th century.

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Women's preference for trousers has made it impractical to wear slips.According to experts, the need for full- and half-slips that had become a status symbol was reduced at the turn of the 20th century as the fabrics from which dresses and skirts became less transparent and more form-fitting while manufacturers not only lined dresses and skirts but also attached petticoats to many of them.

Moreover, women’s preference for trousers has made it impractical to wear slips.
One wonders whether a woman who is uncomfortable with bras and panties but not nose rings, tattoos and piercings is likely to be found dead in a petticoat.

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Who cares about modesty in the age of permissiveness and democracy in which slogans like 'Freedom of Expression' and 'My Dress, My Choice'are often invoked by scantily dressed women?Some forms of exhibitionism, not excluding pop culture that views the visible outline of a woman’s underwear (panty line) as accentuating her ‘sexiness’, is unlikely to favour the underskirt that was once regarded as a symbol of the wearer’s modesty. Who cares about modesty in the age of permissiveness and democracy in which slogans like ‘Freedom of Expression’ and ‘My Dress, My Choice’ are often invoked by scantily dressed women?

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