Where would we be without our lingerie? When its primary function was to protect the skin from the friction caused by the reverse side of the heavy, heavily embroidered and ornamented suits of yesteryear. Underwear has not finished evolving through time. They are there to reshape the body, support it, hide it, protect it, magnify it. Underwear makes itself discreet and it’s its indiscreet history that will be told to you through the “La M\u00e9canique des Dessous” exhibition until November 24, 2013 at the Mus\u00e9e Des Arts D\u00e9coratifs in Paris. <\/p>\n
This exhibition invites you to explore the artifices used by women and men, from the 14th<\/sup> century to the present day. This journey through the ages can be understood as a long history of the metamorphoses of the body subjected to the diktats of successive fashions. You’ll learn about the mechanisms that have forced women’s bodies to tighten their waists to the point of fainting. You’ll learn about the mechanisms that have forced women’s bodies to squeeze their waists to the point of collapse, and where the taste for pigeon-holed throats and buttocks comes from, as well as enlarged hips and flattened breasts and stomachs. As for the men, you’ll learn how they’ve pushed their virility to the limit by artificially bulging the torso, adding shapes to the calves or the fly. Nearly two hundred silhouettes, including baskets, crinolines, stomach belts, faux-cul, girdles and push-ups from French and foreign public and private collections, offer a unique look at body-related fashion. <\/p>\n A fascinating exhibition on the other side of our silhouettes to discover until November 24, 2013 at the Mus\u00e9e Des Arts D\u00e9coratifs de la ville de Paris.<\/p>\n