Lingerie

Lingerie goes public and out for the evening



In the 1850s, suffragists advocated the end of the restrictive corset. In the late 1960s, the bra became a symbol of female bondage, and went up in flames.

Then came the 1990s, and Madonna rekindled the issue when she churned across stage in her Jean-Paul Gaultier bustier, defying anyone to see the bra as a symbol of oppression.

Today, while some may still call for the overthrow of a lingerie dress-code, designer Donna Karan -- who is launching a line of intimate wear in the fall -- says the renewed popularity of intimate fashion "allows a woman to be free to be a woman."