The History of Lingerie

In the next few weeks we’ll be hosting a series of excerpts from Gene’s article on the history of lingerie. In an interesting article illustrated with loads of retro-photo’s from Gene’s collection, he talks about the history of bras, corsets, panties and so on…

Gene writes:

“Lingerie as we know it is a relatively recent concept. Your grandmother would probably never combine the word sexy and lingerie in the same sentence. In the early part of the 20th century, women’s underwear was designed for functionality rather than sensuality. No one, with the possible exception of a Moulin Rouge Can Can Dancer, bought underwear to be seen in it.”