The rise and rise of unmentionables

BRONWYN WILLIAMS

The inspiration behind Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's latest collection was a hope chest, but they may have taken it literally - there were certainly a lot of chests on display.

Not-so-innocent bridal lingerie peeped through dresses of white lace and tablecloths, sweet rompers and sexy pencil skirts. Dolce and Gabbana were shouting: "Show us your wares!" and the rest of the world listened.

Rihanna and Britney flaunted their bits in sexy lingerie-esque stage suits at the Billboard music awards, Lady Gaga is rarely seen with clothes and at the recent Costume Institute Gala Beyonce's bra more than peeped out from the top of her dress.

Celebrities seem happy to let it all hang out. Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen lets the tops of her suspender stockings show from beneath her short skirts and the see-through dress trend has meant knicker flashings are commonplace on the red carpet.

Bras are popping up all over street style websites, as fashionistas make designer lingerie exposure part of their fashion statements.

The old "underwear as outwear" trend of the 80s is back, as designers flaunt their smalls, or small-themed garments down the runways.

Vera Wang, Proenza Schouler, Stella McCartney, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior all went back to the bedroom for spring 2010; and for resort 2012 Bottega Veneta and Chanel followed suit. In fact, everybody's doing it, from Gucci to Glassons. Corset dresses and silky camisoles, vintage style lace and bloomer-style shorties can be bought for anything from $19.99 to $9999.

It's all gone boudoir for 2011-12, and it's going to make history.

The Victorians believed the bigger the better when it came to underwear and women of that era wore blousy shorts that came to the knee.

The strange thing about these knickers was that each leg was separate, and tied together at the waist. These open crotch drawers were supposedly about hygiene - the Victorians believed the more breeze down there, the fresher you were.

It was the sassy Parisian cancan dancers who finally got rid of the open-crotch knicker design. They needed to retain some dignity when they lifted their legs, so they stitched up the hole. They also hacked their bloomers off at the leg, to show maximum leg and give maximum titillation. The new shape caught on, and a new trend was born.

The shorty knicker design was a hit with the 20s flappers, who tweaked them so that they resembled men's briefs in order to fit with their androgynous aesthetic.

In the 40s the rage for French silk knickers were popularised by the pin-up girl movie stars and their sultry photo shoots.

The 70s was all about free love, the contraceptive pill and burning bras, and cotton panties fitted right in.

The itching, restrictive brassieres were being burnt but the cotton panty was staying. Their practicality and comfort, and the fact that they were unisex made them welcomed by the feminists.

This was also the era of the discovery of teenagers, and cotton knickers became a uniform for the blooming youth, too old for children's underwear but not yet mature enough for sexy silks.

The 1990s saw the rise of Calvin Klein, and that raunchy underwear ad with Kate Moss and Marky Mark (now known as Mark Wahlberg).

Cotton pants became sexy again and stayed that way until the early 2000s, when something much smaller arrived in the spotlight - the G-string.

Otherwise known as the tanga, the thong or dental floss, these pesky little pieces of fabric took the world by storm. It was an antidote to the VPL (visible panty line) that had been plaguing the Western world, and it was this teeny scrap of butt cover that is said to have made Brazil a tourist spot overnight.

While G-string swimwear still causes watering eyes and disapproving looks in New Zealand, Brazilian women love it, and have taken it as their own. Everything except the most vital bits were on display with the G-string, and everyone from Britney to your brother's teacher now wears one. But they do have their downsides. The ever-present wedgie became an occupational hazard, and "whale tail" sightings that were initially splashed across the front covers of Weekly became deemed as trashy and common. (For those who don't know, a "whale tail" is when one's G-string is visible out the top of one's pants. The shape of the G-string resembles a whale's tail)

These days almost every style of underwear imaginable is in stores, but what we are really crazy for is the boudoir style. Fashion is obsessed with the 1940s and 1950s and the under things that go with it.

Thanks to Domenico and Stefano, Vera, Karl and the others, French silk knickers and dainty laces are on our 'most wanted' lists. And while we don't recommend channelling Gaga, you can buy gorgeous pieces that remain under your clothes or in the bedroom.

- © Fairfax NZ News