Innerwear: Liminal Dressing 1820-2020

Dress is contingent on context: you would not wear your bikini at the office or your suit at the beach. Even in enclosed spaces, like the home, elements of dress can change depending on whether you are dressing for you or for others. This exhibition explores innerwear, defined as clothing worn indoors. Unlike underwear, which is meant to be covered up, innerwear is seen. While some parts of the home can be secluded, this is a liminal place where private and public intersect. For the Victorians, most garments fell within the set boundaries of undress, half dress, or full dress. Then and now, home was a microcosm of the world.

Each category includes a variety of styles and mirrors situations we encounter today. Loose peignoirs (Figure 1), a form of undress, were often worn in private quarters but seldom in public gatherings, like pajamas today (Figure 2). Victorians could wear fashionable dressing gowns (undress) (Figure 3) or daytime attire (half-dress) to receive guests.¹  Boundaries between categories could shift and blur. Half dress included garments worn in and outside the home (Figures 4 & 5). The “pelisse,” a fitted coat (Figure 5), was first meant as outerwear, but in drafty, cold quarters was adopted as innerwear. Long sleeves and high necklines were common in half dress, except for reception gowns (Figure 6).² As the most formal type of half dress, the reception gown had some hybrid features. For full dress, Victorian women could wear very low necklines in long, elaborate gowns for dinners at home (Figure 7). Prohibition brought alcohol consumption back to private residences where cocktail attire with rising hemlines were worn (Figure 8). Full dress attire, like undress and half dress, is evolving with our changing lifestyles (Figure 9). Although it may feel like the days of strict Victorian dress codes are behind us, echoes of these rules endure. They may be the cause of a discomfort that haunt us when we are either over- or under-dressed.

If all categories of garments can be worn within the home, some spaces are more public than others, which can affect what is worn there. Despite the fact that we are sharing more of our lives through social media and videoconferencing, we are still aware that certain garments have different levels of propriety. Most people would not open the door to a delivery person in worndown pyjamas. Different domestic spaces allow us to play different roles and the style and functions of our clothing change to reflect rooms and situations.³