The V&A‘s latest long-running exhibition is Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear. As the name suggests, it follows the evolution of underwear design from the eighteenth century onwards. It features examples of underwear worn by both men and women, examining how underwear influenced, and was influenced by, ideas of gender, sex and morality, and how it affected outerwear.
I was interested to see the older underwear in particular, such as the examples of nineteenth-century corsets and their earlier counterparts ‘stays’, as well as early bras. The more modern cutting-edge styles were fascinating too. The exhibition runs until 12 March, costing £12, and is well worth seeing.