V&A Museum online

Here’s something I learnt today. During the mid-1800s, when hooped skirts
and crinolines were getting bigger and bigger, someone took out a patent “for
a garment inflated by means of bellows and deflated to enable the wearer to sit
down”. Sadly it didn’t catch on, but plenty of other wacky undergarments did
as you can see on the pages of the V&A website. If you’ve ever been lucky enough
to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, you’ll know it’s full to the brim
of art and design objects – everything from classical sculptures to Vivienne
Westwood platform shoes, with collections in photography, textiles, homewares,
furniture, fashion and architecture. I’ve only just discovered their website (and
its weird undy facts), and it’s almost too overwhelmingly full of awesome stuff
to even consider logging on without at least five hours of spare time up your sleeve.