On Sunday
July 12, 2015, at 10am, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney’s inner city suburb of
Ultimo is showcasing its exhibition “Undressed: 350 Years of Underwear in
Fashion”. This exhibition was organised by London’s famous Victoria and Albert
Museum, and features over eighty items from the V&A’s remarkable collection
of underwear. Many of these have never before been publicly displayed.
The purpose
of this exhibit is to explore and showcase how underwear has been used over the
past centuries to manipulate and decorate the human form. Spanning garments
worn over three and a half centuries, it includes corsets, bustles, petticoats,
brassieres, and negligees which have in turn been worn to reduce, expose, lift,
and adorn the body.
The
collection is built around the themes of modesty and practicality; control and
corsetry; volume, curves, bustles and petticoats; decoration and seduction;
uplift, support and the bra; body image; and high fashion and underwear as
outerwear.
Exhibition highlights
include one of the world’s earliest known bras; Queen Victoria’s underwear; a
seventeenth century iron corset; and men’s underwear. Intricately designed
pieces worn by glamorous and famous women are included, as are modern pieces by
famous designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Christian Dior.
If you love
lingerie, costume, fashion, or are enchanted by history, this exhibition is for
you. Located at 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, it makes for a great day out and a
new appreciation for how far lingerie and undergarments have come – as well as
for how amazingly beautiful what we don’t see has always been.
