Now the British Council - the organisation charged with promoting wider knowledge of the UK overseas - is staging an exhibition which marks the British passion for panties.

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The exhibition, which opens in London on Wednesday and is called Inside Out, will go on to tour Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Finland, Lithuania and the United States.

Emily Campbell, head of design promotion at the British Council, says the show was dreamed up to counter foreigners' view of the British as "dowdy, stuffy and repressed".

Her aim is to set the record straight, and highlight the impact of UK designers such as Janet Reger, who revolutionised lingerie tastes in the 1960s.

When it comes to knickers, bras, camisoles, pants and the rest, the British have long been patriotic consumers. Traditionally, our buying habits were shaped by high street stores such as Marks & Spencer, BHS and Littlewoods, says Kim Rawlings, editor of the trade magazine Contours.

On show at Inside Out

Radiation-resistant knickers Personal alarm bra which monitors heart rate Nine Wonderbras customised by British designers

For many, "Marks and Sparks" briefs are as British as Rich Tea biscuits and warm beer. A survey last year by the Royal Mail found a quarter of British living overseas receive consignments of M&S underwear.

Despite M&S's recent run of bad luck, its underwear is still seen as a mark of unpretentious chic. Quizzed about her exotic taste in clothes, British actor Minnie Driver recently commented that "underneath it all ... I am wearing a Marks & Spencer bra".

Ms Rawlings says Britons' bond with big-name high street stores has made it tougher for up-and-coming foreign brands to break the UK market.

"The branded products have had to fight exceptionally hard over here to break the stranglehold. The US and Europe have always been an easier target," says Ms Rawlings.

A Hollywood star slips into something more comfortable for Bhs

Karoline Newman, co-author of Lingerie, A Century of Style, recognises the schism that led to the British Council show.

"The British have this split personality. On the one side there is this British prurience, but if you look at who broke the mould in lingerie design, who made it more daring, it's down to designers like Janet Reger and Mary Quant."

In the 1950s lingerie was literally a black and white issue, says Ms Newman. The Swinging Sixties put a change to that, as designers used colour, embroidery and patterns to lend sex appeal to their creations.

By the 1990s, sex was not so much a side order as a key ingredient of any catwalk show. Jean Paul Gaultier's cone bra creation, as worn by Madonna, heralded "underwear as outerwear" says Ms Newman.

Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing "underwear as outerwear"

You might be forgiven for thinking that in this searing sexually-charged climate, British designers would have found themselves out in the cold.

Not so, says Ms Rawlings. Home-grown brands such as Gossard, Berlei and Rigby and Peller are sought-after in the United States, alongside Continental names.

Even Victoria's Secret, the lingerie chain with more than 900 outlets in the US, has borrowed some British spirit to add an air of authenticity to its brand.

Two years ago it launched an "English Lace" collection, sported by bowler-hatted catwalk models. The chain regularly uses English spellings in its catalogues - for example "colour" instead of "color" - and likes to call its outlets "shops" instead of the more American "store".

For men, there's not much happening in this department

"It goes along with the old story of the company and lends and air of classicism to our image," said a company spokesman.

Emily Campbell hopes the Inside Out show, at London's Design Museum, will raise everyone's awareness of the UK's contribution to this thriving corner of the fashion market.

Unfortunately, for men, or perhaps that should be fortunately, the show has a heavy bias to the women's market.

Ms Campbell is unapologetic. "Since the decline of the cod piece in the 16th Century, it's not really something that men have chosen to emphasise."