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In addition to keeping outer garments from soiling, undergarments are
worn for a variety of reasons: warmth, comfort and hygiene being the
most common. Undergarments are often used for modesty or erotic
display; sometimes both of these motivations are simultaneously
present.
Undergarments can also have religious significance, as in the special
temple garment worn by followers of the LDS Church (Mormons). Some
Jews use clothing that should neither touch the skin, nor be used as
outer clothing: tallit katan or tallet ketannah or tzitzit. Every Jewish boy
and man is supposed to wear Tzitzis (tassles) ?on undergarments,
every day and always when attending synagogue. Some Hindus wear a
Sacred Thread underneath their clothing that is supported on the left
shoulder and wrapped around the body, falling underneath the right arm.
The two major types of men's underpants are boxer shorts (shorts-
length and loose) and briefs (smaller and tighter), which are also
referred to as Y-fronts in British English.
Ancient history
A man wearing a Japanese traditional Fundoshi -red rokushaku- frontside
A man in a Fundoshi -red rokushaku- doubling as swimwear- backside
The loincloth is the simplest form of underwear; it was probably the first
undergarment worn by human beings. A loincloth may take three major
forms. The first, and simplest, is simply a long strip of material which is
passed between the legs and then around the waist. The ancient
Hawaiian malo was of this form, as are several styles of the Japanese
fundoshi. Another form is usually called a cache-sexe: a triangle of cloth
is provided with strings or loops, which are used to fasten the triangle
between the legs and over the genitals. The alternate form is more skirt-
like: a cloth is wrapped around the hips several times and then fastened
with a girdle.
In warmer climates, the loincloth may be the only clothing worn (making
it effectively not an undergarment), as was doubtlessly its origin, but in
colder temperatures, the loincloth often forms the basis of a person's
clothing and is covered by other garments. In most ancient civilizations,
this was the only undergarment available (King Tutankhamun was buried
with 145 of them).
Men are said to have worn loincloths in ancient Greece and Rome.
It is not clear whether Greek women wore undergarments. Roman
women sometimes wore wrapped breastcloths or brassieres made of
soft leather. They also seem to have worn loincloths and possibly
something like panties. Decorative frescoes survive showing semi-nude
women cavorting in breastwraps and loincloths.
Any cloth used may have been wool, linen or linsey-woolsey blend. Only
the upper classes could have afforded imported silk.
The loincloth continues to be worn by people around the world (it is the
traditional form of undergarment in many Asian societies, for example).
In various -mainly tropical- cultures, the traditional male dress may still
prescribe only a single garment below the waist or even at all, without
underwear or only optionally, including the Far eastern Dhoti and Lungi
or the Scottish kilt.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Male undergarments
In the Middle Ages, western men's underwear became looser fitting. The
loincloth was replaced by loose, trouser-like clothing called braies, which
the wearer stepped into and then laced or tied around the waist and legs
at about mid-calf. Wealthier men often wore chausses as well, which only
covered the legs.
Sir Walter Raleigh in paned trunk hose and cannions, and his son in
loose slops, 1602. By the Renaissance, the chausses became form-
fitting like modern Hose, and the braies became shorter to accommodate
longer styles of chausses. However, chausses and many braies designs
were not intended to be covered up by other clothing, so they are not
actually underwear in the strictest sense.
Braies were usually fitted with a flap in the front that buttoned or tied
closed. This codpiece allowed men to urinate without having to remove
the braies completely. Henry VIII of England began padding his own
codpiece, which caused a spiraling trend of larger and larger codpieces
that only ended by the end of the 16th century.
The modern men's shirt appeared during this era, but it was originally an
undergarment. Renaissance noblemen also adopted the doublet, a vest-
like garment tied together in the front and worn under other clothing.
Female undergarments
Medieval women usually wore a close-fitting garment called a chemise or
sometimes a shift or smock, sometimes coupled with braies-like leg
wrappings.
They may have worn petticoats over the shift and under the dress.
Quilted petticoats could be worn during the winter. Elaborately-quilted
petticoats might be displayed by a cut-away dress, in which case they
became a skirt rather than an undergarment.
During the 16th century, the farthingale was popular. This was a
petticoat stiffened with reed or willow rods so that it stood out from a
woman's body, like a cone extending from the waist.
Corsets also began to be worn about this time. At first they were called
pair of bodies, which may refer both to a stiffened bodice designed to be
seen, and a bodice stiffened with buckram, reeds, canes, whalebone etc.,
worn underneath another, decorative, bodice. These were not the small-
waisted, curvy corsets familiar from the Victorian period, but straight-
lined corsets that flattened the bust.
There is a myth that Crusaders worried about the fidelity of their wives
and forced them to wear chastity belts. There is no reference, image, or
surviving belt to support this story. In fact most historians of this
period are of the view that chastity belts were worn to prevent
unwanted sexual advances and that the woman kept the key.
Enlightenment and Industrial Age
The inventions of the spinning jenny machines and the cotton gin in the
second half of the 18th century made cotton fabrics widely available.
This allowed factories to mass-produce underwear, and for the first
time, people began buying undergarments in stores rather than making
them at home.
The standard undergarment of the late 19th century for men, women
and children was the union suit, which provided coverage from the wrists
to the ankles (this "second skin" style is more commonly known as long
johns today). The union suits of the era were usually made of knitted
material and included a drop flap in the back to ease visits to the toilet.
Drawers for women were not generally worn until the mid-nineteenth
century when the adoption of crinolines made them necessary for
reasons of modesty and warmth.
In the 18th century, women began wearing stays, a type of
undergarment that wraps around the torso from behind and ties closed
in the front. These stays were often stiffened in the 1750s and 1760s,
when they became known as the corset. Different colors became
available (though linings remained white). The corset remained popular
with aristocratic women well into the 19th century, when the design was
modified to fit much more tightly. A tiny waist came to be seen as a
symbol of beauty, and the corsets were laced with whalebone or steel to
accomplish this. This caused great pain to most women, and some even
suffered damage to internal organs and bones as a result. These later
corsets did not wrap around the breasts as their predecessors had.
Breasts were thrust outward by many corset designs, but were
otherwise allowed to hang loose.
The corset was usually worn over a thin shirt-like garment of cotton or
muslin called a shift. In the latter half of the 19th Century, long drawers
called pantalettes or pantaloons often accompanied the shift to keep the
legs out of sight as skirts styles got shorter.
The other major female undergarment of this period was the Crinoline
petticoat. This underskirt served a similar purpose to the farthingales of
the Renaissance, only the petticoat kept skirts full by means of stiff
fabrics and numerous layers rather than hoops. It also differed in that it
was fairly inexpensive, and therefore commoners and aristocrats alike
could afford to wear it (though wealthy women could usually afford
petticoats of finer material and of more elaborate design).
The bustle, a frame or pad worn over the buttocks to enhance their
shape, had been used off and on by women for two centuries, but it
reached the height of its popularity 1880, and went out of fashion for
good in the 1890s.
1900s
By the early 20th century, the mass-produced undergarment industry
was booming, and competition forced producers to come up with all
sorts of innovative and gimmicky designs to compete. The Hanes
company emerged from this boom and quickly established itself as a top
manufacturer of union suits. Textile technology continued to improve,
and the time to make a single union suit dropped from days to minutes.
Meanwhile, designers of women's undergarments relaxed the corset. The
invention of new, flexible but supportive materials allowed them to
remove the whalebone and steel while still providing support.
1910s
The increase in the number of underwear manufacturers necessitated
the birth of undergarment advertising. The first underwear print
advertisement in the United States ran in the Saturday Evening Post in
1911 and featured oil paintings by J.C. Leyendecker of the "Kenosha
Klosed Krotch". Early underwear advertisements placed emphasis on
durability and comfort; fashion was never a selling point.
By the end of the 1910s, Chalmers Knitting Company split the union suit
into upper and lower sections, effectively inventing the modern
undershirt and drawers. Women wore lacier versions of this basic duo
known as the camisole and drawers.
In 1913, a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob changed
women's fashion forever when she cobbled the first brassiere together
by tying two handkerchiefs together with ribbon. Jacob's original
intention was to cover the whalebone sticking out of her corset, which
was visible through her sheer dress. Jacob began making brassieres for
her family and friends, and word of mouth soon spread about the
garment. By 1914, Jacob had a patent for her design and was marketing
it throughout the United States. Although women had worn brassiere-
like garments years past, Jacob's was the first to be successfully
marketed and widely adopted.
In 1912, the United States had its first professional underwear designer.
Lindsay "Layneau" Boudreaux, an immigrant from France established the
short lived panty company "Layneau". Though her company closed
within one year, it had a significant impact on many levels. Boudreaux
showed the world that an American woman could establish and run a
company, and she also caused a revolution in the underwear industry.
Boudreaux is possibly the reason why up-scale underware and panty
stores exist today.
By the end of the decade, trouser-like "bloomers" (popularized by Amelia
Jenks Bloomer 1818-1894 but invented by Elizabeth Smith Miller) gained
popularity with the so-called Gibson girls who enjoyed more athletic
pursuits such as bicycling and tennis. This new female athleticism helped
push the corset out of style, as well. The other major factor in the
corset's demise was the fact that metal was in short supply in much of
the world during World War I. Steel-laced corsets were dropped in favor
of the brassiere.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of World War I were issued button-front shorts
as underwear. The buttons attached to a separate piece of cloth, or
yoke, sewn to the front of the garment, and tightness of fit was
adjusted by means of ties on the sides. This design proved so popular
that it began to supplant the union suit in popularity by the end of the
war. Garments of rayon also became widely available in the post-war
period.
1920s
In the 1920s, manufacturers shifted emphasis from durability to
comfort. Union suit ads raved about "patented" new designs that
reduced the number of buttons and increased accessibility. Most of
these experimental designs had to do with new ways to hold closed the
crotch flap common on most union suits and drawers. A new woven
cotton fabric called nainsook gained popularity in the 1920s for its
durability. Retailers also began selling preshrunk undergarments.
Women's bloomers became much shorter and stockings covered the
legs instead. The shorter bloomers became looser and less supportive
as the boyish flapper look came into fashion. By the end of the decade,
they came to be known as step-ins very much like modern panties but
with wider legs, worn for the increased flexibility they afforded.
As dancing became a favorite pastime of young flappers, the garter belt
was invented to keep stockings from falling. Nevertheless, the increased
sexuality of the flapper also made underwear sexier than ever before. It
was the flappers who ushered in the era of lingerie.
A Russian immigrant named Ida Rosenthal further developed the
brassiere in this decade when she introduced modern cup sizes in 1928
for her company, Maidenform.
1930s
A pair of men's briefs
Modern men's underwear was largely an invention of the 1930s. On
January 19, 1935 Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs in Chicago,
Illinois. The company placed a Y-shaped front and overlapping fly on
knitted drawers in both short and long styles. They dubbed the design
the "Jockey" since it offered a degree of support that had previously only
been available from the jockstrap (the company itself would later adopt
the name Jockey, as well). Jockey briefs proved so popular that over
30,000 pairs were sold within three months of their introduction.
Meanwhile, other companies began selling buttonless drawers fitted with
an elastic waistband, the first true boxer shorts (named for their
resemblance to the shorts worn by professional fighters). Scovil
Manufacturing also introduced the snap fastener at this time, which
became a popular addition to various kinds of undergarments.
Women of this decade brought the corset back, now called the girdle.
The garment lacked the whalebone and metal supports and usually came
with a brassiere (now usually called a bra) and often garters attached.
1940s
During World War II, elastic waistbands and metal snaps gave way once
again to button fasteners due to rubber and metal shortages.
Undergarments were harder to find, as well, since soldiers abroad had
priority to get them.
At war's end, Jockey and Hanes remained the industry leader in the
United States, but Cluett, Peabody and Company would make a name
for itself when it introduced a preshrinking process called Sanforization,
which came to be licensed by most major manufacturers.
Meanwhile, some women readopted the corset once again, now called
the waspie for the wasp-shaped waistline it gave the wearer. Many
women began wearing the strapless bra, as well, which gained popularity
for its ability to push the breasts up and enhance cleavage.
1950s and 1960s
In the 1950s, underwear manufacturers began marketing printed and
colored garments. What had once been a simple, white piece of clothing
not to be shown in public suddenly became a fashion statement. The
manufacturers also experimented with rayon and newer fabrics like
dacron and nylon. By 1960, men's underwear was regularly printed in
loud patterns or with images ranging from messages to cartoon
characters.
Women's undergarments began to emphasize the breasts instead of the
waist in the 1950s. The decade saw the introduction of the bullet bra,
which featured pointed cups. Fredericks of Hollywood's push-up bra
finally hit it big in this decade as well. Meanwhile, women's panties had
become even more colorful and decorative, and by the mid-Sixties were
also available in two smaller, more abbreviated styles called the hip-
hugger and the bikini (after the island of that name), frequently in sheer
nylon fabric.
Panty hose, also called "tights" in British English, which combined panties
and hose into one garment, made their first appearance in 1959,
invented by Glen Raven Mills of North Carolina. The company later
introduced seamless panty hose in 1965, spurred by the popularity of
the miniskirt.
Present day
Woman in camisole, garters and stockings
Underwear as fashion matured in the 1970s and 1980s, and underwear
advertisers forgot about comfort and durability, at least in advertising.
Sex appeal became the main selling point, in swimwear as well, bringing
to fruition a trend that had been building since at least the flapper era
(underwear is the last barrier before nudity, and thus it acts as a sort of
gatekeeper to sex).
• Performers in the 1980s such as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper also
got into the act, often wearing undergarments on top of other clothes.
Later, in the 1990s, hip hop stars would popularize a similar style,
known as the sag, which allowed loosely fitting blue jeans or shorts to
droop low, exposing the underwear. In fact, in the case of Mark
Wahlberg, it was his success as underwear model for Calvin Klein
(pioneering in sexy exposure of male flesh) that allowed him a double
launch to showbiz fame as the first white hip hop star and as a
respectable Hollywood hunk.
• Although it was worn for decades by exotic dancers, the thong
first gained popularity in South America, particularly in Brazil, in the
1980s. It was originally a style of swimsuit made so that the back of the
suit is so thin that it disappears between the buttocks. By the 1990s,
the design had made its way to most of the Western World, and thong
underwear became popular. Today, thong underwear is one of the
fastest selling styles available among women and is even gaining some
popularity among men.
• In the 1990s, retailers started selling boxer briefs, which take the
longer shape of boxers but maintain the tightness of briefs. Though
marketed as a new design, these are actually quite similar to the bottom
half of the two-part union suits worn in the 1910s.
Underwear styles and function
Man in boxer briefs (trunks style)
Today, there are many options in underwear available. These include:
• boxer style (at or near true waist, leg sections extending to
thighs)
o woven boxer (traditional)
o knit boxer (like traditional but with more fabric give)
o boxer brief (also knit; more form-fitting)
o pouch boxer brief (boxer briefs but with pouch for genitals rather
than access flap)
o athletic-style (skin-tight, usually with no access pouch or flap; like
short tights; a variety also is bike shorts)
• brief style (knit fabric, with access pouch or flap; usually at or
near true waist, leg bands at tops of thighs)
Sunbather in bikini
•
o traditional brief (vertical flap)
o double seat brief or double back brief
o diagonal flap brief
o pouch brief
o low-cut/low-rise brief
• bikini brief (usually lower than true waist, often at hips, usually no
access pouch or flap, legs bands at tops of thighs)
o high-side bikini brief
o low-side bikini brief
o string bikini brief (the front and rear sections meet in the crotch
but not at the waistband, with no fabric on the side of the legs)
Dancer wearing a dance belt
• g-string type (with a front pouch for the genitals but no rear
coverage)
o thong (with a strap securing the pouch at the bottom rear,
passing up the crack between the buttocks to the waistband)
o athletic supporters, also known as jockstraps (with two straps
securing the pouch at the bottom rear, passing around the bases of the
buttocks up to the waistband at the sides) and dance belt
o strapless pouches (with a front pouch and waistband only, no
securing straps)
There are also many types of long underwear, union suits, and other
variations of men's underwear. Some underpants also have a fly. These
usually do not allow detachment at the waist; elasticity allows them to be
taken on and off. Usually the fly of underpants avoids exposure of the
skin just by an overlap of cloth, without buttons, etc. Such a property
may be one of the criteria for boxer shorts not to be suitable as outer
clothing.
Union Suit
Today, there are many other specialized types of underwear made for
sexual purposes, such as edible underwear. Most of these are meant
simply to display the body or genitals in certain ways, while some are
intended to provide genital stimulation as well. Frederick's of Hollywood
is an example of a business centered around manufacturing and selling
such underwear.
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