History of Underwear: from shirts and stays to bras and briefs

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Greg Jenner is joined in western Europe by historian Dr Serena Dyer and comedian and actor Vic Michaelis to learn all about the hidden history of underwear. For as long as people have been wearing clothes, they have been wearing garments under them – Romans at Hadrian’s Wall were sent underpants, and even Ötzi the Iceman was discovered wearing a form of undergarment. But what were people wearing before the invention of underwires and elastic, so essential to our modern conceptions of underwear? This episode traces the history of our underthings in western Europe and the USA from the medieval period, through the Tudor, Regency and Victorian eras, and into the modern day. Moving around the…