Accession numberRMG-2539MeasurementsH700 x W730mmHistoryCotton with covered button waistband
Women did not wear underpants until the early 1800s when both men and women wore long split-legged drawers. Women’s drawers were below the knee with an open crotch. By the mid-1800s women wore a more decorative, closed-crotch version, called bloomers and later, knickers.