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History of Undergarments

Undercover

From panties to bustiers to seductive corsets, flirty lingerie, boxers and briefs, undergarments come in a variety of styles, each embraced by the distinctive persons and personalities who wear them. While some yearn for the comfort of a cozy pair of cotton briefs, the silky touch of satin entices others.

Underwear, which dates back centuries, evolved from a practical purpose: to keep outer garments from being soiled or damaged by bodily excretions. Offering a layer of protection between skin and outerwear, other purposes include shaping the body, concealing flaws, preserving modesty, and providing support.

It’s widely believed that loincloths, fabric wrapped around the hips and between the legs, were the first undergarments worn by men. They were later replaced by braies—baggy drawers resembling shorts. Union suits, introduced as women’s wear since they restricted the body, were long, one-piece underwear that later crossed into menswear. Traditionally made of flannel with long-sleeves and full-length legs, these buttoned up the front and had a button-up flap at the rear. The garment is mentioned in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.

In more recent times, the men’s market became flooded with “tighty whiteys,” snug white briefs. Also referred to as the “jockey,” this style offers similar support to the jockstrap, which was designed for deliverymen who rode bikes. Another popular men’s style, boxers, borrowed their moniker and fit from the sport of boxing.

As for women, popular undergarments included corsets, which were worn in the 16th century through the early 20th century and designed to restrict and contour the torso into a desired shape. These constricting undergarments went out of fashion during WWI due to metal shortages, to be replaced by the girdle, an elasticized undergarment used to shape and slenderize a woman’s figure.

In response to rising hemlines, which would potentially expose more skin, pantaloons were introduced at the end of the 19th century. Worn under skirts and dresses, the long, baggy trousers covered calves and ankles.

The term knickers came from A History of New York, written by Washington Irving who wrote under the pseudonym Diedrick Knickerbocker. First worn by men, women later wore them under crinolines, which propped skirts out. Underpinnings were mentioned in "The Miller’s Tale" in The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer. Knickers still refers to underwear in the United Kingdom.

Another undergarment breakthrough came in 1914, when the U.S. issued a patent for the first contemporary bra. In an effort to forego wearing a corset, Caresse Crosby—born Mary Phelps Jacob—sewed two handkerchiefs together before heading to a ball. Later the bra was mass produced. Crosby, also renowned as an American patron of the arts, founded Black Sun Press with her husband, Harry Crosby. Together, they published early works by Henry Miller, Ernest Hemingway, and others.

During the 1950s, college boys in America raided girls’ dormitories for kicks, snatching their panties before publicly displaying them. This gave rise to the term panty raids. A few decades later in the 1980s, thongs debuted, as well as designer undies by Calvin Klein, which flaunted ultra-sexy styles worn by supermodels. In 2000, Spanx rocked the intimate apparel market with foundation garments (pantyhose and underwear) intended to make wearers appear thinner--the 21st century girdle.

By Regina Molaro