When did the colour red for womens lingerie take on a salacious reputation? Summer Anne Lee joins FLP to figure this out
CLASS DESCRIPTION
When did the colour red for womens lingerie take on a salacious reputation? Five hundred years ago, women of the elite class considered this a sensible and attractive colour, and proudly put their red undergarments on display for all to see. Yet by the Victorian period, there was a dramatic change. Although not completely forbidden, colourful and highly decorative underpinnings were considered impractical, improper, and unladylike. Red lingerie was considered ridiculous during the early twentieth century though took on more romantic and saucy associations after the Second World War.
By the early 1980s and into the 1990s, editorials and marketing published in womens magazines like Cosmopolitan perpetuated the idea that red lingerie was something that women wore to reward and attract men. This has resulted in a backlash, where modern-day wearers are wary of its association with the male gaze. Despite this, many people today are using red lingerie as a tool for self-empowerment. Contemporary brands are changing their marketing of sexy lingerie to promote it as something one wears to spark their own self-confidence rather than to please a partner. This lecture was inspired by research that was conducted for the 2022 digital exhibition Incendiary: A History of Red Lingerie for the Underpinnings Museum.
ABOUT OUR LECTURER
Summer Anne Lee is a fashion historian and Adjunct Professor based in New York City. She received an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she currently teaches courses in the history of fashion. Summer acted as guest curator with the Underpinnings Museum to curate the 2022 digital exhibition Incendiary: A History of Red Lingerie, and is a member of the museums committee.
Instagram: @summerannelee
Website: summerannelee.com
UPCOMING SESSIONS WITH THE FEMINIST LECTURE PROGRAM
Monday 16th September
Kitty Underhill (she/her)
Where do Flaws Come From?: Bellies, Bodies and the Social Construction of
Imperfection
Monday 23rd September
N.A. Kimber (she/her) and K.E. Donoghue-Stanford (she/her)
Death and the Maiden: Femininity in the Gothic
Monday 30th September
Carolina Hades (she/her)
Pole Dancing Against the Algorithm
Monday 7th October
Janine Francois (she/they)
Black {Gendered} Space Time: From the Heavens to Outer Space
Monday 14th October
Parumveer Walia (he/him)
Staged Bodies: Performativity in Feminist Photography
Monday 21st October
Isobel Atacus (she/they)
Eva Hesse: Imagining the Unruly
Monday 28th October
Gudrun Filipska (she/her)
Feminism and Zombie Culture
Monday 4th November
Anna Titov (she/her)
Cyborgs, Transcorporeality and Volatile Bodies: Ecofeminist Theories of Embodiment
Monday 11th November
Jennifer Higgie (she/her)
Stars in Their Eyes: 19th-Century Spiritualism and Female Proto-Surrealism
Monday 18th November
Melissa Baksh (she/her)
Whitewashed? Whiteness and Femininity in Art History
Monday 25th November
Dr. Noam Yadin Evron (she/her)
Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Artist, Composer, Pioneer
Monday 2nd December
COMING SOON
Monday 9th December
Baylee Woodley (they/them)
Medieval Femmes: Queer Femininities in Medieval England
Monday 16th December
Summer Lee (she/her)
The Incendiary History of Red Lingerie
RECORDING
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