In Brief

With an exhibition on the history of lingerie opening in New York this week, Raquel Laneri considers how unmentionables became a turn-on:

The idea that underthings can serve any other purpose besides a purely functional one, of course, is relatively new. For centuries, men and women wore plain T-shaped linen tunics under their clothes, most likely for warmth and, as FIT Museum Director Valerie Steele writes in the catalog’s forward, to protect more decorative outer garments from “the dirt and sweat associated with the (seldom washed) body.” (Eww.) Undergarments did enjoy a brief moment of exposure in the 18th century, with the ruling class indulging in decorative corsets. (Think Marie Antoinette and her semi-public dressing rituals.) Yet by the early 19th century, the rise of the middle class – and a certain “bourgeois modesty” – sent these undergarments back into hiding, with women relegated to simple, white stays and petticoats that served to enhance their virtue rather than their allure.

That all changed in the late 19th century. The Impressionists had shaken up Paris with frank portraits of their mistresses and friends wearing blue silk unmentionables. Department stores opened to cater to an increasingly powerful middle class that no longer felt shy about displaying its wealth. And, most importantly, women began to see themselves not just as housewives and mothers but also as sexual beings. Silhouettes – the hourglass, the “S” (achieved by wearing a corset and a rear-enhancing bustle) – became more extreme, and underwear more luxurious.

(Image: Ad for Stardust Miracle-Lift Bra, published in the March 1953 issue of Woman’s Day, via Flickr user Classic Film)