Symington Collection
The Symington collection was created by the Market Harborough company R. & W. H. Symington, which began to make corsets for fashionable Victorian ladies in the 1850s. The company eventually grew into an international success and one of its most famous products, the Liberty Bodice, was produced for almost seventy years.
Advertisement from 1953 for a 'Liberty' corselet.
The 'Liberty' range accounted for most of Symington's production during the 1950s. The design and marketing departments were at their most prolific and sophisticated during the 1950s.
Printed box tops for wasp-waist corsets from the mid 1890s.
Symington had their own design and printing departments and this period produced some of its most decorative packaging. The packaging incorporated some of the major trends of the period including the Art Nouveau style shown on the right.
Box top artwork for a straight front corset from the early 1900s called 'The Jewel Case'
In 1908 after two years of development the noted Symington corset firm launched the Liberty Bodice. Made from an exclusively knitted fabric reinforced with a unique form of cloth strapping it became immediately successful. The fabric gave warmth with lightness and the strapping maintained the shape of the garment throughout countless washings. Indeed the Liberty Bodice was known to have passed through a whole family of children without ever losing its shape or quality. At its peak it was generally accepted that there was not a child in the country who had not learned from an early age to put on its Liberty Bodice when dressing. About 1912 a ladies Liberty Bodice was designed for those requiring more freedom for games and similar pursuits. The child's Liberty Bodice, both loved and loathed by thousands of children was finally discontinued in 1974.
The original advertising image for the 'Liberty Bodice' showing Freda Cox.
Freda was the daughter of Fred Cox, a Director at Symington's who was responsible for the development and successful marketing of the Liberty Bodice.
Knitted elastic fabrics both plain or fancy and rich satin elastics printed or plain became part of the new swimwear collections. The most important change however, was in design when the knowledge of corset making was used to the full in creating what were first known as 'figure fitted' or 'corset tailored' sports suits rather than swimsuits. This was epitomized in the Peter Pan collection brilliantly conceived to include ruched cottons, knitted elastics and richly-printed satin elastics. The 'Peter Pan' brand was used under licence from the U.S.A.
Advertising literature of Symington's 'Peter Pan' branded swimwear, 1930s.
Box top artwork for the 'Surprise Corset'
This unique collection was presented to Leicestershire County Council's Museums Service in 1980. Although it includes some pieces made by their competitors, the collection tells the story of the Symington company over a period of one hundred and thirty years. It includes garments and supporting advertising material, which provide an insight into the development of corsetry, foundation garments and swimwear from the late 19th century through to the beginning of the 1990s.
Find out more about the Symington company at Harborough Museum.