Brandon Routh as Superman in Superman Returns and Madonna’s much talked about conical bra

Superman’s undies

Thinking out of the box for innerwear? Try and beat Superman. How many others can claim to wear their underpants over their clothes with such nonchalance and yet be on the wish list of most women? Much before Madonna and Cyndi Lauper had popularised innerwear as outerwear (and sometimes the only wear!), the fumbling journalist who metamorphoses into a flying superhero had sparked off the trend. There has been widespread debate on whether the red briefs worn over the blue-and-red costume added to the handsome superhero’s powers. Superman isn’t telling… yet.

Madonna’s conical bra

When celebrated French designer Jean Paul Gaultier designed the famous black-and-gold bustier for Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour, no one was prepared for the impact it would have. While the concert was criticised for mixing religion with overt sexuality, what stuck was the image of the sexy singer in the conical bra belting out Material Girl and Like a Virgin. “When I was a child, my grandmother took me to an exhibition, and they had a corset on display. I loved the flesh colour, the salmon satin, the lace. She explained that a corset was meant to help you, to make you stand up. It was a solution that I thought was beautiful. The gold conical bra was just an extension of that idea,” was what Gaultier had to say about the celebrated creation. Fetching a record £14,000 at a pop memorabilia exhibition a couple of years ago, The Bra is now a highlight at Hollywood’s Lingerie Museum, which also houses Ethel Merman’s girdle from There’s No Business Like Show Business and Tom Hanks’s Forrest Gump boxers.

Victoria Beckham’s thong

This is a case of the G-thing going to the head — quite literally. Posh Spice — better known as David Beckham’s wife — has always been up to antics, but this one takes the Beckery. The mother of three had discovered an innovative way to style her hair before she adopted her new short-hair look — using her thong to tie her ponytail! The singer’s hairdresser Ben Cooke exposed the third use of the V-thong in the Beckham home (when it wasn’t being worn by Victoria or David). “When she had her extensions she used to tie her hair back with a G-string because she always lost her hair bands,” Ben said. “They were always clean though!” he was quick to add. We believe you.

Andy Warhol’s Jockeys

American artist and thinker Andy Warhol courted a host of controversies during his lifetime and has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, documentaries, books and films since his death in 1987. To put it mildly, Warhol often used unconventional materials for his paintings — he liked his Jockey briefs so much that he used a pair as a canvas for one of his dollar-sign paintings!

Jan Bucquoy’s innerwear museum

He is known as the Enfant Terrible of the Belgian art world. And with some reason. Jan Bucquoy’s Musee du Slip Belge or Belgian Underpants Museum attracts thousands of visitors through the year. Visitors to this unconventional museum are greeted by walls bearing saggy white Y-fronts, black lacy G-strings and Mickey Mouse boxer shorts donated by celebrities around the world. Ivory satin knickers worn by Miss Belgium 1997 hang alongside a faded cotton pair worn by Bucquoy’s girlfriend the day she gave birth to their son. Belgium’s late King Baudouin, who died in 1993, and a number of American statesmen are depicted in Andy Warhol-style prints with Y-fronts on their heads. A mountain of assorted underpants, all worn just once by Bucquoy, doubles as a colourful centrepiece. “I buy them, wear them, wash them, then put them there to do something with,” said the eccentric artist. Each year, Bucquoy sends politely-worded letters to the 500 biggest names in Belgium requesting an “intimate garment”. The one condition? They have to be used, but clean.

Breathalyser beater

In May 2008, an 18-year-old Canadian caught for drunken driving tried swallowing his underwear in the vain hope that the cotton fabric would absorb the alcohol before he took a breathalyser test. On the way to court, David Zurfluh got panicky, ripped the crotch out of his boxer shorts, stuffed the fabric in his mouth and tried swallowing it. That did not save him from the breathalyser, but Zurfluh was eventually acquitted of all charges. So what if his family and friends later gave him a mouthful?