Best Gymslip Design of all Time? You Tell Me

Is it just me that thinks so, or is this the finest design of gymslip ever produced or even conceived of when it comes to setting apart a young lady from her peers as an aid to developing the correct mindset to accept the imposition of strict and restrictive discipline - discuss. (I can’t say I entirely approve of the knickers though.) Yes I know you’ve seen pics from this set before on this site, but not this particular shot I think (I hope); I’ve just come upon it. Now for the real reason for this post (not that I am not serious about hearing your points of view / ideas / designs – yeah, why not designs?):

A couple of days ago I mentioned setting up a series of Dropbox albums to share various stuff I have downloaded off the web over the years and also that I have scanned from my various collections of spanking and domination orientated stuff and various materials that have informed the descriptions in my books. Part of the impetus for this was having the album containing my collection of the spanking and D/S art work of Hobbs / Thorn (there is some contention over the true artist’s identity) deleted by those well-meaning folk at PicasaWeb and my desire to circumvent future strife.

Well, as an experiment I have now created a folder of the Hobbs / Thorn artwork on Dropbox. I have created an entirely new listing category in the right-hand sidebar to hold links to future Dropbox albums if the trial works out. It may well be that I’ll have to cycle these albums from time to time to work through my collection due to limited storage space. Dropbox has a limit of 2 GB on their free subscription service and I am also using it to back-up my writing and book cover artwork. However one way of working around this to free up more space would be for me to set up another Dropbox account under my everyday name for backup purposes. I’m going to see how well this works out first and how popular - or otherwise - it proves to be, so I’ll be looking for feedback (hint, hint). Remember to check the Dropbox album list in the sidebar (just below the ‘Spanking Artwork Albums’ list) from time to time as I will be adding to it when I have time but I may not always have sufficient time to tell you in a blog entry. Remember too that much will be adult content, especially the Thorn / Hobbs stuff!

I forgot to put in links in my last posting to the two sites I spotlighted. This I have now rectified – sorry for any inconvenience / frustration caused. I have also added a link in the ‘Useful Resources’ list situated in the sidebar to a source of ‘forced exercise’ photos on Tribes.net for all those that appreciate such things (click to visit or see sidebar).

The Gymslip: The Governess's Choice Every time

After reading the comment / contribution I featured in my last posting I came upon an anonymous comment posted on my entry entitled "The Perfect Gymslip?" (click to view post if you haven't already) simply stating :"Love the work. Long live the gymslip!"

In the context of the last posting and taking inspiration from some of that anonymous benefactor's ideas as regards rear buttoning garments in particular, and the question of discipline in general, I started asking my self the question: just what would constitute the perfect gymslip in the eyes of our governess or institutional mistress?

The first question I suppose has to be; why the gymslip? I think the answer there lies in the distance between it and most everyday garb a young adult might chose to wear - always assuming that she has any choice in the matter of course. After all general speaking; a skirt is a skirt is a skirt - but a gymslip instantly shouts; juvenile. It is an anachronistic thing to boot and being a full-length garment has a far greater scope for imaginative stylistic refinements - the open-sided bodice style, that I personally would favour, in particular as there is much scope there to work there with different yoke shapes as well as shoulder-strap widths, lengths and buttoning arrangements. Talking about the latter leads to the first refinement I could imagine our governess incorporating.

.....

The traditional fastening would be by two or three in-row buttons along the top of each shoulder strap but I have seen the buttons running across at a point around a quarter of the way down the front of each shoulder strap - which of course eases the chore of fastening and unfastening in the case of the young child. But our governess is, of course, in charge of recalcitrant young adult women - a pair of young ladies, say, in dire need of strict discipline and unlikely to take kindly to the imposition of uniform as it is, let alone to be enamoured with their new gymslips. The imaginative governess surely would have created for her charges a pretty little confection with a row of three buttons to fasten each shoulder strap, but sited running across each at around a quarter of the way down the rear of the strap. Very, very fiddly and extremely difficult to fasten and unfasten unaided - how galling!

.....

The second thought that comes to mind is one of practicality. In an institution practicality and functionality may well be considered to be paramount, with the fabric choice being influenced accordingly: easy care, easy to clean, perhaps by simply sponging down , hard wearing fabric etc. But I would think that any governess worth her salt and deeply steeped in the subject of discipline, would actually be more likely to go for the diametrically opposite qualities, if giving careful though to a suitable uniform - or uniforms - for the young women under her supervision. Consider; a fussy design, as difficult and troublesome in dressing as in wearing. A myriad sharp knife-pleats decorate a skirt of a fabric guaranteed to require ironing on a daily basis. The fabric chosen particularly because it is known to crease extremely easily - perhaps it scuffs and marks easily as well. If stockings are worn then surely they would be of extremely fine denier, anything but run-resistant and of course seamed. It goes without saying that dress inspections would be frequent, long and tedious and the slightest crease, stain, button misplaced or left unfastened, would result in sever hard strokes of the cane. Likewise crooked seams or (horror of horrors) a ladder in that expensive but delicate hosiery. Needless to say that a creased skirt would be near impossible to avoid with the utmost care in sitting - and of most relevance to the anonymous contributor mentioned in the last posting - necessitating the absolute minimum of fidgeting throughout the seemingly endless schoolroom day. Then we come to thoughts of suitable underwear, of which more another time...but just imagine semi-transparent knickers, in a suitable colour to match the uniform, as an interesting diversion from the obvious...just look at the pic, above left, and imagine this under a suitably abbreviated pleated skirt. Then there is the possibility of combining this feature with traditional school knickers style, full, high-waisted, nice broad leg elastics - all very traditional...until we get to the gusset.

.....

Well, that's it for now, Tomorrow I'm off to Broadstairs (a little town on the Kent coast in south-east England) where I shall be until Monday. I'll be taking my trusty pad and pen so I can put together those last little niggling details of volume 2 (I need to come up with a suitably vivid description of a British woman police officer's uniform - don't ask why...I wont tell you - coz it would give too much away...and then you might jump to conclusions). I also hope to come up with some ideas / make some decisions for the blog and/or the upcoming discussion board/website I have planned. Talking of blog posts: I am going to begin a small series through which those that are interested can watch the evolution of the INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2 book cover - starting with the hand drawn layout guide I have come up with (created in the pub, of course - a real mess). I have to apologise if today's effort seems a little error prone, perhaps a bit of a mess, disjointed or just plain rambling nonsense. I have been writing all day and it is now the early hours of the morning - and I have to get up early too! PS: Just to keep you all up to date: volume 2 is currently standing at 221 pages completed.

Restrictive Clothing and Cramped School Desks

A while ago I received an emailed comment from an anonymous reader, to whom I must apologise for not getting to it sooner, regarding restrictive discipline clothing. As usual I have run it through the good old spell checker, but unusually I have also carried out a little bit of editing - not because there was anything wrong with it as it stood, but rather because I enjoyed the ideas presented and couldn't resist embellishing it a bit. Also it led me to think more about a prospective governess's thought processes if presenting her take on a school uniform suitable for a young lady continuing her education in somewhat private circumstances (see next post)...now read on...

"Dear Garth, I read your blog of February 16th with great pleasure. Restrictive clothing has always been a favorite of mine, underwear especially. What can be more restrictive than a tight corset? I am all for the inclusion of a long chapter with a number of girls in a classroom where the (stated) goal of the experiment is to study the influence of “proper dress” on learning. Of course the girls as they sit in the classroom cannot forget for a minute their appearance. Be it the tight constricting, lace-up oxford shoes; sized far too small and that hobble them, imprisoning their feet so tightly that nothing can move inside. Walking in these shoes is painful; sitting in the classroom is the only way to alleviate the pain. But then the corset takes over, as it has been equally carefully designed to dig into the pubic bone and under the arm when sitting. The back garters are positioned so that it is impossible not to sit on them and not leave their imprint on their skin - with time, angry red marks develop.

The stockings are support stockings or wool or maybe both just to keep warm in the winter or summer! The backboard, integral to their corsetry ensures that there can be no stooping in the classroom - or anywhere else for that matter. I like the idea of a smock or tunic, back buttoned and with a starched cotton blouse underneath and a high tight collar, also buttoned in the back; the girls can help each other dress up in the morning… I could go on and on, suffice it to say that the idea gets my vote."

Yes and yours would get mine too... Especially if they are crammed into the typical Victorian schoolroom desk-and-seat combo or some modern variant. The most interesting point about that type of design is that...in actuality it is so poor when it comes adaptability. Even in its original for it was designed to accommodate comfortably only a narrow size range - and of course the pupil has no control over the relative positions of the desk and chair, there can be no slovenly swing back on the chair or twisting nonchalantly to one side or the other and facing outwards with legs crossed...or even crossing the legs under the desk if the design has been engineered correctly. In short it is that very lack of flexibility that makes the Victorian schoolroom desk so amenable to enforcing the standards required for the imposition of strict discipline - it represents a little more of the aspect of personal choice rested away from the governess's charge.

.....

In the context of the above writer's ideas; the incorporation of such furnishings into the schoolroom when dealing with girls in their late teens or even early twenties, especially if scant regard has been paid to their physical maturity, would be the icing on the cake, so to speak. I have rustled up a couple of suitable pics (above) to illustrate what we are talking about here : if you imagine such a design having been realised in a tough white molded plastic, all smoothly-curving lines but otherwise just as restrictive (perhaps more so, having been especially put together for that very purpose) then you have something of the atmosphere of the schoolroom depicted in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1.

.....

There is scope here for further refinement of course: for example the chair back (straight-backed of course) could be increased in height as far as the back of the girl's head to enforce a correctly alert and disciplined posture and restrain her from stretching and throwing back the head in an unladylike manner.

.....

On the other hand the chair could be reduced to the dimensions of a narrow bench seat and her posture be maintained by discipline (and the fear of the cane) alone. But then, of course, one looses that cramped feeling of restraint - and I do think that the desk edge should fit snugly against the midriff at all times, with the girl's hands kept where the governess or schoolmistress can see them; above the desk and demurely clasped or kept flat with palms uppermost (my choice!) when not writing. I think that I would recommend a combination of aspects of the two approaches: a high straight back to the chair but the seat itself reduced to a narrow bench, little more than a perch, and a gap between the two sufficient for the swell of her bottom cheeks to protrude. Very uncomfortable, very humiliating.

More E-Discipline: Let's Call Her My Little Supplicant. Also New Thorn Art Added

I am just putting together a new post and doing some general work on the blog. I have been writing today, working on a section that is destined to eventually become part of INSTITUTIONALISED volume 3 and that I have provisionally entitled 'drip, drip, drip'. Not to give too much away it involves a pretty, late teenage, girl (whom you may or may not have already met in volume 1, I'm not saying, but will learn more about in volume 2 in the company of her governess) a pitch black hospital room, medical restraints and a 'malfunctioning', leaking intravenous drip-feed. I know I should get volume 2 finished first but when these ideas come to me I like to get them down as soon as possible before I lose them (I would have liked to have supplied a suitable pic, something teasing, but couldn't find anything that really worked in the time I have available today).

.....

Talking of chastisement: I can't help thinking that Little Supplicant seems a good a title as any to apply to my little discipline disciple corespondent, to whom I have referred before in previous postings. Actually, come to think about it It is a name that seems as naturally suited to her, reading between the lines, as does the school uniform here– it is easily my favourite of those in my collection from the period and one that I would have no compunction whatsoever to putting her in, despite her maturity - the combination of the striped blazer and striped hat-ribbon should make it suitably conspicuous in public, and the girl (for that is how I perceive her, despite her years) suitably self-conscious in it. And if it didn't fit… well, I'd make it fit! That little problem would simply have to be addressed by appropriately restrictive foundation wear…or she would have to be dieted into it at the encouragement of the cane. It is an image that I would suggest we all hold in our collective imaginations when we read of her correspondence and of her completion of her various impositions - a middle aged woman squeezed into a pleated skirted gymslip and squirming to ease the sting of a throbbing freshly-caned behind. Perhaps she can let us know how it feels, after her husband canes her this weekend.

Yet More Gymslips I'm Afraid - I LOVE 'EM!

Yet once again I find myself forced to apologise for the sparsity of posts. As you probably know, from the outset I have undertaken to try to post at least once each weekday. But in recent weeks, what with the treatment I have had to my eyes and the complications thereof and then the banking crisis with the attendant insane shuffling around of bank accounts and out of blind panic (treated with a liberal dose of alcoholic bingeing) things have gone somewhat awry. When I have managed to post something it has of necessity been very short and sharp (and hopefully sweet) and part of a consequence of that is that the site has notably been gradually going off track of late. The aim as stated was always to discuss the INSTITUTIONALISED series, the things such as images, films, TV shows and books that have influenced me in writing it, the ideas I've had and others that have recently come to me and that I am developing at present - and also to provide a platform for you good readers to contribute your own ideas and feedback. In addition I try to keep track of the type of thing that visitors have come to this site searching for (those of you that arrive as a result of a Google, or other search engine, keyword search) and then try to provide either the relevant content (if it is relevant to the stated aims) or a link to it. But what with the various distractions I have had the tendency has been to provide content as quickly as possible and easiest way was to work around those keyword searches.

.....

This was something I had intended to address this week, to get this site back on track but again things have gone somewhat awry - I am behind with the writing of volume 2 of INSTITUTIONALISED, there is still the stress of all this banking nonsense and somebody, who shall remain nameless, sent me a link to a marvellous source of vintage pictures - a vein that could take weeks to mine to exhaustion and that I really should leave alone because of the time I'm spending on it, but it's just so damn addictive!! On top of all that I spent most of yesterday traipsing round various hair clinics receiving quotes for a transplant - just a little to either side at the front you understand, I'm still pretty much well thatched otherwise (honest). So far this week I've only managed one post and that pretty much consisted of a series of links to the various albums I've been building up. Of these, only Betty Bow 1973 has been much visited and I think probably because people are mixing up the name with that of Betty Page . The first is a British women's workwear and uniform manufacturer, the second is a famous vintage burlesque star (click on her name to visit her site) and muse of the great John Willie (AKA John AS Coutts, of which more we must wait for another time - as influential as his work was on me in my formative years).

.....

As for today, once again I am somewhat short of time so for the moment and the completeness and bracket and because people still come to this site having typed in gymslip is a keyword) I'm posting up a few more vintage pictures. And then at some later point I am going to place all the gymslip pictures I have together in a single album and supply any link to it from the sidebar. Later today or tomorrow I will endeavour to get the site back on track with some stuff actually directly pertaining to my writing and influences, with a couple of nice illustrative images I've come across, possibly a snippet from volume 2 or volume 3 and a story outline that I've sketched out and that will form part of the body of volume 2.

.....

Mind you, isn't it nice to see a bottle green one - so near-perfect for a girl's first arrival at the institution (think INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1). Of course the shoes would never do - and where the hell has her tie gone? That Should warrant a caning straightaway, don't you think? Far too slovenly - and her skirt is creased.

.....

Finally, I just couldn't resist this little pic of what so easily could be a nice little summer dress with a bit of imagination (perhaps in a nice bottle green or royal blue gingham check) - nothing like the type of thing that the uniforms I envisage the girl's wearing in the institution are based upon of course, but quite lovely in its way nonetheless. Girlish enough to be an acceptable for a young lady under the tutelage of a stern governess I should think - and brief enough as to invite frequent slaps across the back of her thighs and equally frequent visits to the caning horse.

.....

Thanks for your patience and best wishes - Garth (soon to be immensely hirsute - a rock god in the making I shouldn't wonder).

The Perfect Gymslip?

Probably not, but very nice nevertheless!

.....

Greetings good readers, from a still half-blind Garth Toyntanen. post my laser sight correction surgery of last week I now think that one eye is recovering faster than the other, or something similar. Whatever the reason, one eye is an awful lot better than the other at mid range and this difference is causing visual disturbances. It's probably not worth my purchasing reading glasses until my eyes settle down So for now I'm soldering on as best I can. It's all a bit annoying though as I'm about five days in from the surgery and I was led to believe that after 24 hours or so my vision would be very much back to normal.

.....

There are various points within the story arc so far developed in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1 and that will continue to develop into the upcoming volumes two and three, wherein a young lady, despite her apparent maturity and physical development, is put in school uniform. Although the story is clearly sat in the present world, or at most a very recent past, the point is that those school uniforms are without exception not only juvenile in design but also both strict and anachronistic in appearance, and therein hangs a great deal of that all-important element of humiliation. Although I have always done my best to paint a picture in words, and will continue to do so of course, for many I fear that the imagery still leaves much room for misconception and puzzlement.

One of the most intractable problems I have had in creating and writing the INSTITUTIONALISED series has lain in getting the modern reader to understand exactly what is meant by the term ‘gymslip’ as pertains to the various encounters portrayed in the books. More specifically the problem has been how best to put over the image of the garment as I see it on the girls in my mind’s eye such that the reader shares the same viewpoint and perhaps understands the mental anguish and bitterness the girl feels in it, particularly having previously viewed herself as being a young woman of some independence and even sophistication. By way of an example; in volume 1 it is recounted how one particular young lady is delivered to the institution’s door in a rather strict example of an English boarding school uniform of a bygone age of a rather juvenile appearance and featuring a rather brief knife-pleat skirted gymslip. In some ways the American ‘jumper’ has come to the rescue to some extent as I expect quite a few readers have come across such garments on the Internet in various ways.

Here a reader’s contribution can lend a helping hand; the contributor known only as ‘Domestic discipline’ has again provided some wonderful vintage illustrations of English school uniform for which many thanks go out to him.

If one keeps in mind the bodice of the example at the top of the page, and considers the second of the two pictures above to be the view from the side (yes, I know it's a different girl in a completely different gymslip, but bear with me) and if you now think of the skirt as being flared and sharply knife-pleaded, coming to perhaps mid thigh, then you are beginning to see the image that I had in mind in that scene in volume 1. One should keep in mind, also, the starched stiff collar, school tie and hat of the first picture -and, of course, the young lady's cheeks, apple-red with embarrassment - in conjuring the picture.

The photo on the right I've included by way of contrast and intending to illustrate exactly what I don't mean by the term gymslip in my writings - this is the type of thing more typically thing seen and depicted in the spanking / discipline literature world but is something I think I would tend to refer to as a gym tunic rather than a gymslip per se as I intended depicted in volume 1 (yes I know the gymslip, as I describe, was originally derived from such gym tunics, see wikipedia for more).