Christina Ricci, Margot Robbie & Kelli Garner wearing Sexy Girdles with Stockings on Pan Am

In 2011 the series Pan Am ran for just 1 season. I still remember watching it. Yes it was a bit silly, with nearly every trope from the 60s and the airline industry portrayed as part of some far-fetched story. Yet the series was also good fun, with the drama surrounding the characters portrayed by Kelli Garner and Margot Robbie taking second stage. Right next to that was the more grounded drama from Christina Ricci and Karine Vanesse. Despite some luck-warm episodes for me Pan Am became a joy to watch because of the regular girdle and stocking views it provided. Several standout scenes involve the principal actresses wearing spectacular Rago open-bottom girdles when they would inevitably move either in or out of their uniform.

The airline industry has of course many stories of women being required to wear shapewear throughout the period of the 40s into the 70s, and Pan Am is not different. There are plenty of stories that can be read online of the idealized glamour and femininity mixed with sexism. Pan Am regularly addresses this issue. Maggie Ryan, one of Pan Am’s lead pursers, played by Christina Ricci, is recalled to duty in the first episode after being grounded for not wearing her girdle. This actually seems to have been the policy in reallife as well. In the episode one of the pilots of Pan Am encourages her to wear a girdle, something you hard pressed to do today with an equivalent garment such as a bra or a thong.

Well Christina Ricci does not disappoint. About halfway through the season she has a scene in which she walks around her apartment in an open-bottom girdle for a prolonged period of time. Not even covering herself up when a male friend arrives. Stills from this scene are usually seen as part of references to Rago, the manufacturer that makes them but the scene includes a lot more. Both Kelli Garner and Margot Robbie have similar scenes of which you can find stills below. The exception is Karine Vanesse, though the actress most definitely wears a girdle underneath her blue Pan Am uniform as evidenced by the garter tabs poking through her skirt. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do, for me Pan Am stands out together with Masters of Sex as perfect examples of girdle wearing. Oddly enough Mad Men has that a lot less.