(No Lunch) Lunch And Learn: “The Rise And Fall of Ladies’ Underwear”

Women’s fashions are shaped, literally and figuratively, by their underclothes. Throughout history a woman’s frame has not always been entirely her own. Delicate pieces of linen and lace, stiff corsets, and sturdy hoops and bustles are fascinating to modern eyes. They are the unseen history of an era. Modern contrivances are no less remarkable. Please deliver us from Spanx, couldn’t we just go back to corsets?

This novel and sometimes naughty* presentation will unveil facts and expose myths about women’s unmentionables. It includes stories from real women past and present and their amusing and sometimes uncomfortable relationship with their foundations. Participants will also view actual examples of historic underwear.

Ellie (Carlson) of Ellie Presents, Chicago, Ill., is a museum curator with 30 years of experience in small to mid-sized museums and a first-person interpreter portraying several women from the 19th and 20th centuries. Carlson has a B.A. from Roosevelt University and a Masters of Historical Administration and Museum Studies from the University of Kansas.