An Intimate Affair: Women, Lingerie, and Sexuality

Jill Fields traces the cultural history of women's lingerie in the twentieth century, arguing that the evolution of undergarments reflects broader shifts in gender norms, labor, and sexual expression. Rather than treating fashion as a superficial trend, the book examines how the lingerie industry, advertising, and consumer culture constructed specific ideals of femininity and intimacy. Fields explores the tension between lingerie as a tool for sexual empowerment and as a mechanism of social control, linking the design of bras and slips to the changing roles of women in the public and private spheres.

The writing is analytical and historically grounded, drawing on archival materials to contextualize specific garments within their era. Fields moves from the restrictive corsets of the early 1900s to the liberation of the bra-burning era and the subsequent commercialization of sexiness in the late twentieth century. By connecting the intimate details of dress to macro-level social changes, the book offers a nuanced perspective on how clothing mediates the relationship between the body and society.

Description adapted from Open Library bibliographic data ↗.