Throughout time what's been fashionable in terms of female body shape has changed from one extreme to the other. However, the female body has always been governed by what's covering it and throughout history; it's been draped in many different ways. Moreover, different parts of the female form have been accentuated, hidden, diminished, enlarged by the style of the current fashionable adornments.

We've witnessed almost unbelievable extremes, from contraptions that needed a small army to force the unfortunate fashion victim into to the flimsiest, most whimsical mere flutter of a garment. Let's take a look back at how sexy lingerie has developed and how it got to where it is today.

First of all, let's get some terminology straightened out. Thanks to the world's most romantic language, we now generally refer to feminine 'underwear' as 'lingerie' - unless we're being derogatory in which case, depending on where you happen to live you can fill in the blanks!

When we think of lingerie, we think of a flimsy material adorning the female body in a way that gives us a hint of the delights that await underneath. But the 'first' lingerie, probably from one of the Ancient Greek islands, was very different. These tantalizing Greek women used a boned corset fitted tightly around the midriff, not for support or even for a 'slimming' effect, but to attract their men by revealing their thrusting breasts in a most unsubtle way. Maybe not what we would call lingerie today but with probably the same desired effect.

As time passed, the female form took on new 'perfect' shapes depending on the fashion. As each 'perfect' form emerged, adornments were designed and created to flatter and accentuate that desired shape. The culture of the society dictated whether the breasts, the bottom or both would be highlighted and adored. You could argue that nothing much has changed!

During Medieval times it was thought that the natural form and shape of a woman should be constrained and that the breasts should be firm and small. This state of affairs was probably fine for those naturally built that way but perhaps a nightmare for those of a more voluptuous construction. Many styles of corset were worn with the single purpose of flattening the breasts and/or the bottom. It is said that, in order to draw attention to that part of the anatomy that shouldn't draw attention, some women wore small bells around their neck to remind the men folk of the delights that still lay beneath.

The 'modern' corset is attributed to Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henri II of France. She enforced a ban on thick waists at court attendance during the 1550s and had a questionable effect on women for the next 350 years.

The Renaissance saw another change in the preferred female shape. Women now needed cone shaped breasts, flat stomachs and slim waists. In order to achieve this look, women needed to employ servants or family members to dress them because the cinching up of their corsets was done from the back and required much effort.

Due to this unnatural method of achieving 'perfection', Doctors and other notaries argued that these corsets squeezed women's bodies so tightly that their internal organs were being damaged and their ribs were being permanently misshapen. Around that time it was common for women to faint or fall into a swoon. This was usually attributed to their delicate nature but, in fact, it was because they simply found it difficult to breathe! There are many reports of women dying because of serious punctures to vital organs due to this practice.

In the early 18th century the whalebone corset still kept women tightly bound but the artistry that reflected the times was incorporated into clothing and the corsets were decorated with beautiful ribbons, lace and embroidery. A part of this lightening up was the fact that it became fashionable for the breasts to be pushed upwards to the point of almost popping out.

Towards the end of the 18th century the corset was being worn by aristocrats, the burgeoning middle class and even by nuns in convents. It was often proudly displayed by its wearer because it was a visible outer garment at that time. In itself it was an object of beauty and ornamentation and its display was part of social etiquette.

However, as people became more educated and aware, they started to question and critique many things including art, politics and, you guessed it, fashion. Backed up by professional people like doctors public opinion became such that boned corsets were actually banned in many countries.

By the early 19th century, a much softer approach to the feminine shape became popular. The fashion still called for the support that the old corset had given so it returned with more elaborate methods of construction. Boning was still used in small sections which allowed for better and more comfortable movement.

The fashion at the time was for a more separated look for breasts and a corsetiere by the name of M Leroy (who designed the wedding corset for Marie Luise of Austria when she married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810) designed a model which he called a 'divorce', allegedly because of the 'separation' involved. The most significant aspect of this perhaps, was the fact that women were able to dress and undress themselves due to more elaborate lacing construction.

During the 1840s the extremely exaggerated shape for women caused whalebone to make a comeback with huge hoops and crinolines that were covered with all kinds of fabric and fineries. Unfortunately for women, it became the fashion to have waists small enough for a man to put his hands around and the need for even greater waist-cinching became the female nightmare of the day.

It wasn't long before hoops and crinolines were replaced by the soft 'S' silhouette. This style still used the corset but added a bustle to the back creating an exaggerated bottom. Once again it was the women who had to suffer for fashion needing to stand most of the time due to the cumbersome bustle on their behinds. Obviously men found this appealing because it gave them more opportunities to stare at the sexy women with their large bustles.

As more innovation came to fashion design, greater varieties of corsets were created. During the morning, a lady could wear a lightly-boned corset for visiting, an elastic corset for riding horseback, a boneless corset for an afternoon at the beach and a jersey corset for riding her bicycle. The corsetry industry was in its heyday!

Towards the end of the 19th century the corset supported not only the breasts but also the newly invented stocking. Stockings were held up by garters and suspenders which were then attached to the corset. These contraptions, although a triumph of design, probably added yet another frustrating dimension to the fashion-conscious female of the day.

By the beginning of the 20th century, corsets were being laced down as far as the knee. But many people didn't like that style, and fashion designers were leaning towards an uncorseted, more free-flowing style. Sexy lingerie was about to take a whole new turn. With the advent of the industrial revolution, and the invention of the sewing machine, Germany and France opened the first corset factories.

In 1910 New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob created a new type of bra. Dissatisfied with the corset stiffened with whalebone which she was supposed to wear under a new evening gown, Mary worked with her maid to stitch two silk handkerchiefs together with some pink ribbon and cord. It was much softer and shorter than a corset and it allowed the breasts to be shaped in their natural state.

Mary Phelps Jacob was the first to patent an undergarment named 'Brassiere' derived from the old French word for 'upper arm'. Not long after, she sold the brassiere patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for $1,500 (over $25,600 today).

In 1917 the United States War Industries Board asked women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. This step liberated some 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships.

It has been said that the success of the brassiere is due largely to World War I. The Great War changed gender roles forever, putting many women to work in factories and wearing uniforms for the first time. Women needed practical, comfortable undergarments. Warner went on to earn more than fifteen million dollars from the brassiere patent over the next thirty years.

The other factor to consider in the demise of the corset was that the war had taken its toll on the supply of men. This meant more competition for finding a man so women needed to look their sexiest!

With the Roaring Twenties and its elaborate parties, fashion was turned on its head, the boyish look was in. The quest for flat chests and stomachs along with straight hips and buttocks led to the creation of the liberty bodice, the chemise, and bloomers which were loose-fitting and light. For the first time pastel-colored lingerie appeared to replace plain old-fashioned white. To enhance the boyish look the first brassieres were designed to flatten the breasts. What happened to the corset? The bottom part that held up the stockings was shortened and became the suspender belt.

The full-figured look came back in the 1930s. The feminine look once again became the fashion. Women were encouraged to look well-proportioned with a full-figure while remaining reasonably slim in the hips. Now women had a full set of lingerie to help with the image: breast-enhancing brassieres, elastic suspender belts not forgetting the girdle which kept all the curves in their designated place.

The 1930s also saw one of the biggest advancements in the lingerie industry when the Dunlop Rubber company invented Lastex, an elastic, two-way stretch textile made from the fine thread of a chemically modified rubber called Latex. This could be interwoven with fabric which allowed the industry to make lingerie in various sizes to properly fit a woman's shape.

The onset of World War II and its shortages meant that Germany was unable to import the fabrics they had used previously and their industry failed. Forever inventive, people started making home-knitted underwear out of anything to hand. Not sexy but at least they kept warm.

After the war lingerie consisted of basic brassieres and suspender belts. This was the acceptable to most women but the teenage girl just emerging from the oppression of the war years, became a target market. These teenagers were anxious to become grown-ups and wearing lingerie was a huge step towards reaching that goal. The German lingerie industry created lingerie sets that appealed to these young girls and the industry rocketed.

In the USA, the lingerie industry was trying to create something new and innovative. Women were bombarded with all kinds of undergarments and top clothing to help them look sexy. The film producer Howard Hughes created a new bra, a special wire-reinforced design for Jane Russell. This caused the censors to have a fit about Jane's breasts being overexposed all because of Hughes' wonderfully inventive brassiere improvements.

The 1960s was a bad decade for the lingerie industry thanks to the rise of women's emancipation movements. Feminists burned their bras and many manufacturers were forced out of business. However Lycra had just been invented and women began to wear tight-fitting leggings. The iconic fashion item of that decade however, was arguably the sexy little mini-skirt and the demand for bikini briefs. Famously, for a fleeting moment in time, topless swimsuits and topless dresses were the rage. But, unfortunately for most men and fortunately for the fashion industry, they were just a 'flash-in-the-pan'!

The 1980s saw the wire-reinforced bra become the number-one best seller. While these are still very popular today, the biggest seller now is the push-up bra. Statistics show the average American woman owns six bras, one of which is a strapless bra and one is a color other than white.

The modern female shape varies and is not as susceptible to fashion trends as in previous times. However, they will always looks fabulous in sexy, slinky lingerie!

So, there we have it. From the push-up corsets of ancient Greece to the push-up bra of today. Sexy lingerie? Nothing ever really changes!

Clive Johnson works in the fashion industry and runs a sexy lingerie website.

KAREN WILKINSON