Unmentionables
*visual research into the evolution
of female undergarments,
images courtesy of digital collections,
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
& Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
of female undergarments,
images courtesy of digital collections,
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
& Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Amsterdam’s Begijnhof is known as the only surviving Catholic enclave during the Protestant reform of the 1500s.
The process of monumentalizing its courtyard involved spatial compromises, to accommodate both the circulation of tourists and some degree of privacy for the inhabitants.
Among the areas zoned off are two patches of grass, said to have been used as bleaching fields—spots where laundry would be washed and laid flat to dry and get lightened by the sun.
Regarded as a proto-feminist movement, the tradition of the beguinage decentered childbearing from women’s lives, granted protection from arranged marriages and sexual violence, collectively owned property and demanded remunerated work to gain financial independence from men.
Yet, beguines were involved in practices of caretaking and maintenance of spaces, bodies, and objects, without being mothers or wives. Cleaning, cooking, mending, teaching, nursing—the medieval society depended on them to reproduce, whether they judged or approved of their choices.
In pursuit of reactivating the bleaching fields as site of labor, my work turns towards undergarments, the only items washed regularly in the Middle Ages. Enduring the most wear and tear, absorbing odors, being patched constantly, they mirror the resilience of generations of women that inhabited the Begijnhof.
**1:100 speculative model of The Begijnhof,
isolating the bleaching fields, omitting the buildings
and turning surrounding streets back into canals
current-day site plan of Begijnhof,
alongside images courtesy of City Archives Amsterdam
****
experiments around lightening cotton
using both gentle and chemical bleaching agents
*****grass stained undergarments
(from left to right)
full length chemise with drawstring neckline,
empire waist shift with adjustable bust,
skirted bra with “breast cups” and side lacing
******
lookbook of 3 garments & close-ups of their details;
rouching, closures, finishings
January - March 2025