Photo recall: Blow up bras, ancient undies and century old corsets

Photo / Neville Marriner, Photo research / Emma Land

A fashion historian recounts an exhibition that delved into people's drawers to discover lingering lingerie.

They ranged from the glamorous and sexy to the functional and the hopeful. Corsets, bras, knickers - some more than 100 years old, others so well loved they had remained in the devoted care of their owners for almost 50 years.

This year marks a century since the bra was patented. In April 1997, Auckland Museum assistant curator Angela Lassig already had her eye on an array of close to 100 items of lingerie that had been gathered, researched and carefully fitted on to mannequins for a history of lingerie exhibition. They were in good hands.

Sixteen years on, Lassig, now a freelance fashion historian, recalls the exhibition fondly. "We had some beautiful pieces and got to see a whole hidden world of private collections. It wasn't kinky at all, it was amazing what was around."

The idea for the exhibition came from Bendon, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. "Of course, that's part of New Zealand history too, because they shut down their factories a few years later."

As well as digging out pieces of lingerie, Lassig and museum staff studied old catalogues and newspapers. Each piece of lingerie had its own story to tell, such as the war-era corset held together with "safety pins, darns and stitches" because rubber was in short supply.

"During World War II a lot of corsets became really precious items," says Lassig. "One woman used to lock her corset in the china cabinet."

A 1950s-era bra in the collection had a separate pocket sewed inside the cup and a straw that the wearer could blow into to make her bust appear bigger.

The blow-up bra proved a little too like its name for one wearer, says Lassig. "There was a story from an air hostess who wore one on a flight and it exploded from the pressure."

Lingerie advertising alone was enough to fill some people with hot air. During her research, Lassig also stumbled across a scandal that erupted in the 1970s when a cavorting couple appeared in a Bendon catalogue wearing their underwear, but no wedding rings.

"It was so innocent and tame compared to the ads today. But in the 70s people noticed stuff like that, and Bendon was chastised for it."

The oldest pieces in the exhibition were late 19th-century satin and silk corsets with embroidered patterns along the bones, but Lassig's favourite was a 1930s peach-coloured French bra and suspender.

"I don't have the figure for that sort of thing, but that was one piece that I would have loved to wear," she says. "It was just beautifully made, the work on it was so fine."