Intimate apparel, a term in use by 1921, has played a crucial role in the development of the \"naughty but nice\" feminine ideal that emerged in the twentieth century. Jill Fields\'s engaging, imaginative, and sophisticated history of twentieth-century lingerie tours the world of women\'s intimate apparel and arrives at nothing less than a sweeping view of twentieth-century women\'s history via the undergarments they wore. Illustrated throughout and drawing on a wealth of evidence from fashion magazines, trade periodicals, costume artifacts, Hollywood films, and the records of organized labor, An Intimate Affair is a provocative examination of the ways cultural meanings are orchestrated by the \"fashion-industrial complex,\" and the ways in which individuals and groups embrace, reject, or derive meaning from these everyday, yet highly significant, intimate articles of clothing.