V&A Museum to present history of underwear in new exhibition

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 13, 2015

“Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear” is the name of next year’s fashion exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum, sponsored by the global lingerie brand Agent Provocateur and Revlon.

More than 200 examples of men and women’s underwear will document the story of underwear design from the 18th century to the present day.

Curated by Edwina Ehrman, the exhibition will also explore the relationship between underwear and fashion, notions of the ideal body, and the ways that cut, fit, fabric and decoration can reveal issues of gender, sex and morality.

On display will be corsets, crinolines, boxer shorts, bras, hosiery, lingerie and loungewear, and the show’s highlights include long cotton drawers worn by Queen Victoria’s mother; a sheer dress by Liza Bruce famously worn by Kate Moss; and flesh-coloured leggings decorated with a mirrored glass fig leaf by Vivienne Westwood.

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Opening next year on April 16th until March 12th, 2017, the show was already tested on a smaller scale in three Australian venues: the Bendigo Art Gallery, Queensland Museum and Powerhouse Museum.

Tickets for “Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear” will go on sale in February.