Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear

Fascinating exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the most personal garments we own, underwear.

The show was themed to look at cleanliness, comfort and shape. It was interesting to see how demand pushed changes in technology and vice versa. It also looked at the social changes brought about by underwear such as the fall in the need for servants as synthetic fabrics which were easier to wash came in plus the growing freedoms for women as corsets became softer or disappeared.

However the best thing about the exhibition was some of the fabulous items. The first object I looked at was a man’s shirt from the early 19th with pleated sleeves so they would fit down the fashionable narrow sleeves of the jackets of the time. Mr Darcy eat your heart out! It was a nice touch to include the fig leaf with was made for the museum’s statue of David.

Most horrific were the various designs which had been used to change people shape. We always think of the corsets which shank waists to unimaginably tiny sizes but it also talked about the fashion in the 1890s for the s curve shape which pushed women’s bodies to bend in the middle in a strange way.

Most moving were items where we knew who had owned them such as a hoop for a skirt with the bill from when it was bought. They also had Queen Victoria’s mother’s knickers! I loved an advert for corsets designed by the sculptor Frank Dobson and bought by the V&A when it was taken out of shops as an example of innovative advertising.

My favourite item was a negligee from 1932 in a nude silk with a lace back and three covered buttons. The lace was right down the back ending in a deep v shape. It was so elegant and sexy.

Closes on 12 March 2017.

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