Museum visitors wear underpants on their heads to break record with fashion spectacle

By Vicki Newman
Published
city museum split image of visitors with underwear on their heads

Talk about a brief encounter!

A USA museum that’s home to a gigantic pair of underwear invited people to become world record holders by wearing pants on their head.

355 people joined together at City Museum in St Louis, Missouri, to set the record for the largest gathering of people wearing underwear on their heads.

The idea came about as the museum is hosting the touring Science of Guinness World Records exhibition, which is produced by Ripley’s & Science North.

Museum bosses decided to mark the arrival of the exhibition and celebrate one of their most popular attractions – some giant undies – at the same time.

The pants on display at the museum were created in 1997 by St Louis-based artists Pat Eby and Ann Paidrick.

city museum giant underpants display

They have a 16-ft waistband and are 7 ft wide and 6 ft tall when laid out.

And although they aren’t officially the world’s largest underpants, they sure get a lot of visitors.

The event took place on 14 March, also known as 314 Day, a St Louis tradition celebrating everything inside its 314 area code, with the goal to get at least 314 people involved in the record attempt.

city museum welcomes group of people with underwear for hats

Guinness World Records Adjudicator Michael Empric was invited to the museum to count the number of people who dropped by to pop a pair of undies on like a hat.

People were on hand with hundreds of pair of pants, handing them out to museum fans who came along to join in the fun.

Everyone was required to gather together and keep the underwear on their head for a full minute, with just one person being deducted from the final count – a child who removed their makeshift hat before the time was up.

city museum visitors wearing underwear on their heads

Katy Enrique, the attraction’s Director of Marketing, said: "As home to a fan-favourite large pair of underwear, this record is a natural fit for City Museum. 

We're a little bit quirky and a little bit crazy here and our guests took this challenge to heart, making our underwear dreams come true.

John Corcoran, Director, Traveling Shows & Guinness World Records Attraction Development, added: “’Achieve Amazing’ is the tagline for our exhibition and City Museum and the citizens of St Louis have done just that today.”

city museum science of guinness world records entrance

The Science of Guinness World Records is on display at City Museum until 14 April. Find out more here.

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