On from April 16, 2016 until Sunday, 12 March 2017, the Victoria and Albert Museum will display skivvies from the 18th Century until today: corsets, bras, hosiery, jock straps, girdles, thongs, and more. The exhibit explores how undergarments both shaped and protected our bodies, and in some respects how they encouraged the pursuit of amours. Tickets are £12.00 per person.
Erin Blakemore of Smithsonian expands: “What’s the point of lifting up the skirts and peering down the pants of the past? Plenty. The museum, which acquired more than 60 pieces of underwear, dipped into its own vast collection and borrowed noteworthy skivvies from museums and individuals all over the world, sees underwear as a lens through which culture can be viewed. From nursing bras that show the lives of working women to tracksuits that show the relaxation of social boundaries between street and home, underwear points to the obsessions and everyday lives of the people who wear it. And though Queen Victoria might blush at the news that her mother’s cotton drawers are on display—the queen herself wore monogrammed and crested nightgowns and bloomers, and would probably approve of an exhibition that adds a bit of focus to the garments we all wear beneath the surface.”
A New Exhibition Is All About Underwear.
