Witches Britches

A Frilling Sight

1960s Witches Britches. Image from sportslinkup
One of the more eccentric trends of the 1960s was the fad for witches britches - long frilly, straight-legged, mid-thigh underpants that deliberately revealed themselves under a mini skirt when the wearer bent over.

Usually there were two or three rows of lace or frills along the bottom of the pants in a contrast colour, while  subtler varieties just had one frilly edge along the bottom and were all one colour.

It's hard to say how this trend originated and mercifully, it only lasted for a relatively short period but possibly it  had something to do with the 60s penchant for reinventing quaint ideas from the past...in this case,  the old bloomers (undergarments) of the 1910s and 1920s.