Eight cracking sets of undercrackers on display at the V&A

The corsets that squeezed women’s bodies into rigid S-bends fell from favour in the early 20th century. In their place came a more upright silhouette – think Lady Mary Crawley of Downton Abbey when she’s being particularly stuckup. The trend meant new undies had to be developed. This bodice lifted and contained like an early, po-faced Wonderbra.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

There are functional tights – ideal for preventing secretaries from getting chilly knees – and then there are these beauties by Australian designer Collette Dinnigan. With the power to set hearts aflutter and trousers astir, they are an entirely different stocking species.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

If you think today’s body standards are unattainable, try living in Victorian Britain, when women nipped their waists into hourglass shapes with whalebone corsets. Today the average female waist measures 71cm. The waist of this corset measures just 48cm. Even to contemplate wearing it would require a considerable reduction in fried chicken.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Much prettier than a pair of Spanx and not constricting like a corset, the girdle allowed for freedom of movement while keeping the wearer’s outline smoother than one of Miguel’s chat-up lines.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

According to grime MC Kano, only boys wear boxers; real men wear Y-fronts. Apparently that sentiment was equally true in the 1950s. This figure stood on the counter in a menswear shop, encouraging shoppers to buy ‘the one and only Y-front’.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The 1960s saw a transformation in both menswear and men’s underwear, as designers started using fabrics and patterns previously associated with women’s garms. London firm Dean Rogers created underwear for a largely gay market, proving that the ‘pink pound’ wasn’t an invention of Blair’s Britain.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Who says pants can’t be political? For its 2013 menswear collection, Sibling printed loungewear with images of the 2011 London riots. It’s not a wholly new idea: the practice of documenting historic occasions on fabric dates back to the 1700s.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Calvin Klein can be credited – or blamed, depending on your taste – for precarious waistbands balancing on bums. The trend of denim dropped to reveal logo-heavy pants is thought to have originated in black communities in the USA – a gesture of solidarity with prisoners deprived of their belts.

© Jean Baptise