Undressed, at the V&A is a show dedicated entirely to underwear, and I had a lovely time seeing it yesterday.
With 140 men and women’s pieces from around 1750 right up to the present day, the collection features not only the history of undergarments but also the role of underwear in fashion. There were some amazing exhibits, in particular a gold crochet dress from the 1930’s and an Alexander McQueen gown. The detailing on both was stunning, as was the design and construction of some of the corsets. There is one piece in the show which had been made for Dita Von Teese, which was lovely but also quite shocking – I think the waist size was probably smaller than the size of my thigh. It was teeny tiny, which I know is kind of the point with a corset, but I couldn’t actually imagine how anyone could have a waist that small!
I loved some of the 1930’s – 1950’s pieces, sexy champagne coloured girdles and this blue one, that looks modern today.
It’s not a large exhibition, so you can easily get round it all in a hour, and then do what we did and disappear off for a lovely lunch in the sun after!
Unfortunately the V&A are not allowing visitors to take any photographs of the show so I wasn’t able to take any shots. The ones used here all come from the V&A site.