Undressed: a Brief History of Underwear, which opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Saturday, exposes the origins and evolution of fashion’s usually hidden garments: crinolines, corsets, bras, knickers, boxers, stockings and tights.
Among the more than 200 items on show are cotton drawers worn by Queen Victoria’s mother, a First World War austerity corset in paper and a pair of Vivienne Westwood flesh-coloured leggings with a strategically-placed mirrored fig leaf (similar to those she donned in 1990 to protest staff cuts at the nearby Natural History Museum).
From the home-made “stays” of a working 18th-century Englishwoman to the contemporary lingerie designs of Stella McCartney and La Perla, Undressed also aims to draw on bigger themes, such as gender, morality, health and technical innovation, from the history of our “smalls”.
An 1890s whalebone corset with a waist measuring less than 19 inches is paired with X-rays and illustrations revealing the effects of such tight lacing on the wearer. Yet doctors also prescribed corsets to treat medical conditions and improve posture. The development of the corset’s 20th-century successor, the bra, is also on display, with an early lace and satin bodice from 1910 and a 1990s push-up bra.
From the robust support of latex and Spanx to the sensual fabrics of silk chiffon and lace, the show presents both the functional and luxurious sides of underclothes. As well as the spectacularly impractical: a series of stereoscopic images document the hazards of wearing crinolines.
While underwear by definition is covered up, designers of informal loungewear have long blurred the lines between private and public. Who knew Juicy Couture tracksuits and Calvin Klein crop tops could be traced back to a Paul Poiret evening tunic?
The show is sponsored, fittingly, by UK lingerie-makers Agent Provocateur and cosmetics firm Revlon.
Undressed: a Brief History of Underwear, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 16 April-12 March