Underwear

"Underwear" redirects here. For other uses, see Underwear (disambiguation).

For the types and styles of women's undergarments, see lingerie.

Undergarments, also called "underwear", "underpants," "lingerie", or "panties" (underpants for women), or sometimes "intimate clothing", and "pants" or "knickers", are clothes worn next to the skin, usually under other clothes.

Uses

A man wearing a Japanese traditional fundoshi — specifically a rokushaku.

Roman female underwear from a mosaic at the Piazza Armerina, Sicily.

Some items of clothing are specifically designed as underwear, while others may also be used as swimsuits if made of suitable material, and both T-shirts and certain types of shorts are suitable both as underwear and as outer clothing. The suitability of underwear as outer clothing is, apart from the indoor or outdoor climate that the clothing is worn in, largely a social and sometimes even a legal matter.

The two major types of men's underpants are boxer shorts (shorts-length and loose; also known as "boxers") and briefs (smaller and tighter), which are also referred to as Y-fronts in British English.

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.

History

Ancient history

The loincloth is the simplest form of underwear; it was probably the first undergarment worn by human beings. In warmer climates the loincloth was often the only clothing worn (effectively making it an outer garment rather than an undergarment), as was doubtless its origin, but in colder regions the loincloth often formed the basis of a person's clothing and was covered by other garments. In most ancient civilizations, this was the only undergarment available.

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. Archaeologists have found the remains of such loincloths made of leather dating back 7,000 years. 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. Egyptian king Tutankhamun (1341 BC – 1323 BC) was found buried with numerous linen loincloths of this style. An alternate form is more skirt-like: a cloth is wrapped around the hips several times and then fastened with a girdle.

Men are said to have worn loincloths in ancient Greece and Rome, though it is unclear whether Greek women wore undergarments. There is some speculation that only slaves wore loincloths and that citizens did not wear undergarments beneath their chitons. Mosaics of the Roman period indicate Roman women (primarily in an athletic context, whilst wearing nothing else) sometimes wore wrapped breastcloths or brassieres made of soft leather to support their bosoms, along with loincloths or possibly garments resembling panties.

The fabric used for loincloths may have been wool, linen or a 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 consist of only a single garment below the waist or even none at all, with underwear as optional, including the Far-Eastern dhoti and lungi, or the Scottish kilt.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Male undergarments

Medieval braies

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.

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.

Charles V: 1530s codpiece.

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. There are two possible explanations for Henry VIII's codpiece becoming larger and larger. It is speculated that he, along with many others in this time period, may have had the venereal disease syphilis. The large codpiece may have included a bandage soaked in medication to relieve the symptoms. It would then be wrapped again to protect the outer clothing. Henry VIII also wanted a healthy son and may have thought that projecting himself in this way would portray fertility.

The modern men's shirt appeared during this era, but it was originally an undergarment. Men would wear this long shirt under their other clothing and pull the long piece up from the back and then put their braies on over the shirt. In this way the shirt acted as underwear. Renaissance noblemen also adopted the doublet, a vest-like garment tied together in the front and worn under other clothing.

Female undergarments

This lady wears an informal linen jacket over her rose-pink pair of bodies (corset), smock, and elaborate petticoat, c. 1600

Medieval women usually wore a close-fitting garment called a chemise in France or a smock in England (occasionally a shift), 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 sexual assault and that the woman kept the key.

Enlightenment and Industrial Age

"Tight Lacing, or Fashion Before Ease", a satirical drawing of the early 1770s

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.

Women's stays of the 18th century were laced behind and drew the shoulders back to form a high, round bosom and erect posture. With the relaxed country styles of the end of the century, stays became shorter and were unboned or only lightly boned, and were now called corsets. Undue binding of a corset sometimes led to a woman needing to retire to the fainting room. Colored stays were fashionable.

'health corsets' in 1883

As tight waists became fashionable in the 1820s, the corset was again boned and laced to form the figure. By the 1860s, a tiny ('wasp') waist came to be seen as a symbol of beauty, and the corsets were stiffened with whalebone or steel to accomplish this. By the 1880s, the dress reform movement was campaigning against the pain and damage to internal organs and bones caused by tight lacing. Inez Gaches-Sarraute invented the Health corset, with a straight-fronted bust made to help support the muscles of the wearer.

The corset was usually worn over a thin shirt-like garment of cotton or muslin called a shift. 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.

As skirts became fuller from the 1830s, women wore a profusion of petticoats to achieve the fashionable bell shape. By the 1850s, stiffened crinolines and later hoop skirts allowed ever wider skirts to be worn.

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 the later 1880s, and went out of fashion for good in the 1890s.

File:Unionsuit02.JPG

union suit

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.

The jockstrap was invented in 1874 by C. F. Bennett of a Chicago sporting goods company, Sharp & Smith, to provide comfort and support for bicycle jockeys riding the cobblestone streets of Boston. In 1897 Bennett's newly-formed Bike Web Company patented and began mass-producing the Bike Jockey Strap.

1900s

Modern jockstrap

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. The emancipation or liberty bodice offered an alternative to constricting corsets, and in Australia and the United Kingdom, the liberty bodice became a standard item, for girls as well as women.

1910s

Ladies' underwear advertisement, 1913

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 in 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 underwear 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

corset over "step ins" and camisole,1922.

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.

A man wearing a pair of boxer shorts

1930s

Meanwhile, other 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. 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.

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. Often most soldiers found it more comfortable not to wear underwear, because of constantly getting wet and dry. 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

Corselette of 1953

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. The original Wonderbra and 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.

Pantyhose, 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 pantyhose in 1965, spurred by the popularity of the miniskirt. By the end of this decade, the girdle had fallen out of favor as women chose sexier and lighter alternatives.

Woman in camisole, garters and stockings

1970s till the present day

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).

Tank tops, an undershirt type named after the Tank suit swimwear which dates from the 1920s, have been popular warm-weather casual wear in the United States since the 1980s and are regarded as acceptable public casual dress in most locales there.

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 (with his chiseled muscularity on full display in a series of advertisements in the early 1990s) that allowed him a double launch to showbiz fame as both a white hip hop star and a respectable Hollywood actor.

Although it was worn for decades by exotic dancers, the g-string 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. In 2006, fashion gurus Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine released a new style of underwear, which are made of Nylon and designed to flatten the tummy or buttocks so that the areas appear slimmer, therefore acting as both underwear and a slimming mechanism.

Underwear and brassieres are a common sex symbol in culture today and modeling such as fashion shows

Religious significance

The tzitzis strings of one corner of a tallit. Note how the eight strings are really four that are folded through the hole on the tallit.

Undergarments can also have religious significance. For example:

• Some Jews wear a four-cornered garment called a tallit katan, with tzitzit (fringes) attached at the corners.
• Some Hindus wear a sacred thread, called the Yajñopavītam, underneath their clothing.
• One of the five articles of the Sikh faith is underwear called kaccha.

Underwear styles and function

File:Men's Traditional Fly Front Brief.jpg

Traditional Brief

File:Men's Brief with double-seat.jpg

Double-Seat Brief

Today, there are many options in underwear available. These include

• boxer style (at or near true waist, leg sections extending to thighs)
  • woven boxer (traditional)
  • knit boxer (like traditional but with more fabric give)
    • Boxers both above are worn for swimming under boardshorts
  • boxer brief (also knit; more form-fitting)
  • pouch boxer brief (boxer briefs but with pouch for genitals rather than access flap)
  • athletic-style (skin-tight, usually with no access pouch or flap; like short tights; a variation are cycling shorts
• retro style (boxer shorts in a brief style)
• brief style (knit fabric, with access pouch or flap; usually at or near true waist, leg bands at tops of thighs
  • traditional brief (vertical flap)
  • double seat brief or double back brief
  • diagonal flap brief
  • pouch brief
  • 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)
  • high-side bikini brief
  • low-side bikini brief
  • string bikini brief (the front and rear sections meet in the crotch with a shoestring-like thread at the top, with no fabric on the side of the legs)
• g-string type (with a front pouch for the genitals but no rear coverage)
  • thong (with a strap securing the pouch at the bottom rear, passing up the crack between the buttocks to the waistband)
  • athletic supporters, also known as jockstraps (with two straps securing the pouch at the bottom rear, passing through the perineum, around the bases of the buttocks up to the waistband at the sides) and dance belt
  • strapless pouches (with a front pouch and waistband only, no securing straps)

Man in boxer briefs (trunks style)

Women's panties or knickers

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.

Today, there are many specialized types of underwear made for sexual purposes, such as edible underwear or crotchless panties. 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.

Not wearing undergarments

Main article: Going commando

Not wearing undergarments under one's outer clothing is also known in American slang as freeballing for men or freebuffing for females; in addition, the term going commando is used for both sexes. Upskirt pictures of celebrities without underwear can fetch a high price, and so are highly sought after by paparazzi.

This trend shows that a few consider underwear unnecessary for hygiene, especially for modern people who bathe every day.

In situations where a certain amount of body coverage is required (legally or socially), people who prefer to go clothes free might enjoy not wearing undergarments, as that is the closest they can get to nudity. For others, there may be sexual motives; undergarments are the final physical barrier to sex, and not wearing them might be arousing.

Cycling shorts are designed to be worn without underwear. Kilts are also traditionally worn without underwear.

See also freeball sagging.

Underwear exposed above trousers

File:Skycover.jpg

Marky Mark on front cover of Sky Magazine with signature "sagging" style trousers

Underwear is sometimes partly exposed above the trousers when sitting, bending over, etc., or permanently. This depends on the style of trousers (see also sagging, low-rise jeans, hip-hugger), the style of underwear, and the way they are worn. It may be accidental or deliberate. When women wearing thong underwear expose themselves in this way, it is sometimes called a "whale tail".

Designers / retailers of underwear

A number of major designer labels are renowned for their underwear collections including Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana. Likewise specialist underwear brands are constantly emerging, notably 2(x)ist, C-IN2, Ginch Gonch and Lord

Specialist retailers of underwear include high street stores La Senza (CAN) and Victoria’s Secret (USA). Both the aforementioned chains also have internet sites. Abercrombie & Fitch opened a new chain of stores, Gilly Hicks, in 2008 to compete with other underwear retailers.

Waistband

Waistbands for underwear are different depending on whether the wearer is a male or a female. Also, waistbands for boxer shorts are thicker that they are for men's briefs, and they are even thinner (and lacy) for women's briefs. From the beginning of briefs to the late 1990s, waistbands were plain looking and didn't state the brand name of the underpant. Today, waistbands for name brand briefs have the name of the manufacturing company on them (generic briefs, however, still use the plain design). However, the usage of name brands, slogans, and licensed characters or sports team logos on boxer shorts didn't achieve popularity until the 2000s. Today, adults can purchase their favorite cartoon characters in boxer shorts form.

See also

• Beachwear
• Boy shorts
• Bustier
• Diaper
• Hosiery
• Long underwear
• Sleeveless shirt
• Social aspects of clothing
• Trousers Law—Laws on underwear exposure

Further reading

• The History of Underclothes by C. Willett Cunnington & Phillis Cunnington, 1951, Dover

External links

• Resource showing Jock Straps and Protective Cups in use, includes historic and patent information.
• The National Underwear Day, August 7, 2007
• History of Underwear, from Freshpair.com
• History of Men's Underwear, from Internationaljock.com
• Esquire Magazine, 1974: A Short History of the Jockstrap
• The Council of Textile & Fashion Industries of Australia
• History of Underwear on mum.org
• A thorough history of 20th century underwear
• The origin of underwear
• Historical Lingerie pictures from the New York Public Library Picture Collection