Don’t keep your lacy slip or skin-bearing bralette behind closed doors, instead, take a cue from the catwalk on how to wear next-to-nothing now and let your lingerie do the talking
When you boil down the history of lounging around in lingerie outside of the bedroom, it proves to be surprisingly long. In fact, underwear worn as outerwear has been around for centuries, always toeing the boundaries of what’s appropriate and what's not. Take the original slip dress, for example: the chemise. Meant to be worn underneath dresses as a protective layer, it was popularised (or scandalised) by Marie Antoinette after the French queen was depicted in the white muslin gown and a feathery bonnet in 1783.
But it wasn’t until the 20th century that women would yet again shed their outer layers to reveal their undergarments. During the golden age of Hollywood, the silver screen saw starlets wearing marabou mules, floor-sweeping dressing gowns and cinched corsetry. Just consider Jean Harlow, wearing a feather-trimmed robe in Dinner At Eight (1933) while around her crispy white boudoir purring lines like “Let me slip into something more comfortable.” Not to mention Marilyn Monroe’s iconic subtle hint of lace in The Seven Year Itch in 1954, when her wide white skirt was lifted by the wind from subway grates or Elizabeth Taylor in a lace-trimmed slip in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in 1958.
Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1783 - Collection of the prince Ludwig von Hessen und bei Rhein, Wolfsgarten Castle, Germany. Photo: Wikipedia / Public Domain
Jean Harlow in Dinner at 8 (1933). Photo: Getty
Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1954). Photo: Getty