For centuries, women have cinched, contoured, and concealed their bodies to meet changing gender ideals. Lady Bits features an intimate selection of objects from Te Manawa’s collection, each offering a glimpse into how women met these shifting standards during the 20th century.
Underwear, cosmetics, and haircare products are presented as tools in the tyrannous trade of transforming an ordinary person into a lady. These are devices rarely seen in public, used behind closed doors or hidden under clothing, to mask the fact that femininity is made, not born, and the criteria for ideal womanhood are constantly subject to change.
