Underwear in 'brief' exhibition

A range of unusual items are included in the exhibition

An exhibition looking at the changes to women's underwear over the last 500 years has opened at a Black Country museum.

The exhibition, which includes under garments from Tudor times to the Victorian age and into the 1950s, will be shown at Walsall Museum until June.

The museum's visitor assistant Claire Dolman said underwear was an important part of the "story of fashion".

"You can't talk about clothes without talking about underwear," she said.

The museum said it included items from the nationally significant Hodson Shop collection of women's clothing.

I hope the younger people will come and see exactly what their mothers and grandmothers wore back in the day Claire Dolman, Walsall Museum

The shop was founded by two sisters, Flora and Edith Hodson, who turned the front room of their Willenhall house into a store.

From there, the sisters sold women's clothing, undergarments and beauty products between 1920 and the 1960s.

Ms Dolman said she hoped the museum's exhibition would attract a range of visitors.

"And I hope the younger people will come and see exactly what their mothers and grandmothers wore back in the day," she added.