History Of The Underpants

I was recently in the curiously awkward situation of discussing people’s underpants at a dinner party.

Saturday night, three too many glasses of wine, eyes droopy and brain relaxed, the conversation is leading itself. Though I’d known my friends for a number of years, I was surprised when their preference for underwear came up.

Unexpectedly, female underwear representation was predominantly revealed to be by lingerie brand Intimissimi, and male – Jack and Jones.

Ultimately, we decided that it all came down to a difference in shopping behavior: while women take their time and like to splurge on something soft, qualitative and flattering, men buy in bulk: they are just suckers for a five-pack, avoiding the hideous task of picking each colour and design out individually, and bonus: packs are cheaper.

This train of thought led my sufficiently wine-induced brain to the question: how long have people actually been wearing underwear?

Why Cover It?

Historically, it has been proven that wearing a thin, soft layer of undergarment can not only keep one’s outer attire cleaner but also vice versa: our nearest and dearest benefits from an extra sheet of protection against dust, dirt and chemicals that end up on our outerwear.

Modesty is another factor, considered, specifically in the Roman Empire, when pride and humility were the top virtues.

And a reason, often underestimated by some esteemed undergarment chroniclers, is sexual adornment: as you will read more about in this article, both women and men have historically used their underpants to highlight what’s there and make up for what’s not..

Ancient Egypt and The Roman Empire

The first form of underwear, known to us, is the loincloth: a piece of fabric, pulled between the legs and fastened around the waist. Trough its effectiveness and simplicity, the loincloth has survived for thousands of years, wrapping itself around the genitals of various culture representatives even to this day.

The plain idea of the loincloth has transformed through the centuries and cultures it has lived in: it has taken the shape of a skirt, fastened with a belt, and another, rather revealing form – of the cache-sexe: a linen piece of fabric in a triangular shape, tied together with strings.

Evidence of the earliest forms of loincloth date to pre-dynastic Egypt and the Badarian culture, as far back as 4400 BC. This simple undergarment was referred to as ‘schenti’ and was first introduced among and worn by pharaohs and later adopted by all social classes. Leather versions of the schenti were also worn by women during menstruation, making them the first form of period underwear.

In fact, Egyptians have given such importance to underpants, that they entombed their beloved pharaoh King Tut with a collection of 145 schenti to serve him in the underworld.

The undergarments took on different names in other ancient cultures, like in Greece, where they were called perizoma, in China: a xieyi (a tunic) and moxiong (one piece), and in the ancient Roman empire, where they were known as subligaculum. The latter was worn mostly for modesty reasons and during exercise, underneath a robe or tunic and later took on the shape of shorts.

Upon the fall of the Western Roman Empire, undergarments became less prominent in the region, as the apparently less modest barbarians did not feel the need for underpants.

A resurgence in the world of underwear was only seen in the Middle Ages, though its representatives quickly made up for the centuries of stagnation.

The Middle Ages

Hygiene not yet in place, people of the Middle Ages initially deferred the idea of undergarments. As it usually does, all started with aristocrats and wealthy merchants, who covered their posh groins with silk underpants.

Later on, lower classes adopted the idea of underwear as well and used their outerwear loose-fitting pants, tied around the waist and calf, as an undergarment, called braies.

Unlike their predecessors, the underpants of the Middle Ages proved to be elaborate, containing several elements as addition to the braies. Covering the lower calf were the chausses: tight, individual leggings, which by the 15th century evolved into tights, and codpieces: flaps, allowing urination without the need to remove the entire garment.

It was in the codpieces that one could observe the wearer’s social status, personal style and..well, their size. Opposing to the Roman idea of modesty, in the Middle Ages codpieces often served as a ‘boost’ to a their wearer’s manhood. Padding, decoration, and stuffing were used to attract attention to male packages, rather than conceal them, which lead to the garments’ transition from underwear to outerwear and into complete obscurity by the more modest 1590s.

Renaissance

The new period brought with itself a sharper focus on women’s undergarments. Petticoats were often worn under dresses, covering their wearer’s body from waist to ankle with a light fabric in a loose fit.

In order to separate the heavy outer fabric from the petticoat, as well as to keep with the fashion of the era, women wore panniers as a middle structure, extending the outer skirt to the side and leaving it flat on the front and the back.

A later version of the pannier is the crinoline: a more elaborate hoop construction, the purpose of which was to lift the skirt on the sides and the back, leaving it flat on the front. Not only uncomfortable and highly impractical, the crinoline proved deathly, as women would often set themselves on fire, passing the occasional lit candle, thus showing themselves to be victims of fashion in the truest sense.

The crinoline still exists in certain styles of wedding dresses today, though not as deathly, thanks to the invention of electricity.

With the onset of mass production and the availability of a new plethora of materials, underwear fashion quickly advanced in scale and variety.

Early 20th Century

In 1910 advertising underwear gained in prominence. The focus of the campaigns was on comfort and innovation, seeing the emergence of women’s stockings, garter belts and camisoles, and surging the invention of boxer shorts and briefs for men.

The newly acquired urge for comfort facilitated the birth of the union suit: a button-up full-body woollen garment with a flap on the front, which eventually evolved into the so called ‘long johns’: a separate long sleeve and leggings, famously worn by and named after the boxer John L. Sullivan. With an increasing number of women working in factories, the long johns were a popular undergarment among both genders.

In 1914 the American underwear company B.V.D. updated the union suit with a sleeveless version, and in the 1920s, its athletic version came about, which, not only tighter and shorter, came in a variety of materials such as cotton, silk, wool, and linen.

Further advancements in manufacturing techniques led to an increased range of underpants executions: fastening was designed in variety of areas of the garment and ribbing was introduced for the ankle and waistband areas.

Innovation in underwear was sprawling and a link between underpants and sports was established on the account of Jacob Golomb in 1925, whose company, Everlast, introduced the elastic waistband in swimming suits and boxing trunks, the shape and design of which inspired the boxer shorts, worn to this day.

Only a decade later, in 1935, Arthur Kniebler, hired by Cooper Underwear Company, marked a significant moment in the history of underwear by introducing the jockey shorts: unlike their predecessors, they had no legs and their Y-shape front was influenced by the French swimwear slips, providing support through the elasticated leg openings and waistband.

Though pioneering the field of underwear with its support and patented Y-shape seams, the jockey shorts were not a completely original invention. They were named and fashioned after the jock straps, patented in 1887 by C.F. Bennett’s Bike Web Company, and comprised by a shaped fabric with a waistband and straps, securing the garment on the cyclist’s body during bumpy rides.

The jockey shorts later became popular as briefs and revolutionized the contemporary image of men’s underpants, overcoming modesty and bringing back the attention to male genitals through their comfortable but suggestive seam shape in the fly region.

It was not until 1982 that the popularity of the original brief gave way to designer Calvin Klein’s fashionable iteration. Nearly identical to the jockey shorts, Klein’s underpants adopted a closer fit, lower rise and branding, woven into the waistband. The designer’s purpose was one: to make everyone aware that a new era in underwear has begun: this of ‘pure sex’.

Underwear As A Fashion Statement

With the advancement of photography and the relatively relaxed views on sexuality, underwear had every premonition to become a fashion statement.

And it did! In the 1950s and 1960s an array of colours, patterns and new fabric inventions were introduced: polyamide, rayon and Dacron facilitated the development of new styles, and advertisement became more explicit. Campaigns included both men and women, posing suggestively in only their underwear and brands like Calvin Klein and Victoria’s Secret emerged with prominent photoshoots and lingerie catalogues. Tighty-Whities, previously known as Kneibler’s jockey shorts, were too promoted in explicit shoots, introducing the bikini briefs and nylon thongs.

Comfort and durability were virtues, quickly replaced by sexuality and originality. In the words of fashion writer, Iain R. Webb, ‘underwear stopped being merely functional and became fashionable and sexy’. G-strings and thongs thus gained on popularity among women, while other undergarments were popularized as outerwear by fashion designers in the ranks of Vivienne Westwood, Issey Miyake, and Thierry Mugler.

The prominence of both boxers and briefs among men was still evident: boxers had been the predominant choice among WWII army men for their simplicity and availability, while briefs provided much sought after support. As soon as the 1990s, everyone was asking the same question I did at that faithful drunken dinner party a week ago: boxers or briefs?

Luckily for poor decision-makers, a new answer to the debate was invented: the boxer brief, combining the leg length of the boxer shorts with the tight fit and supportive construction of the brief.

John Varvatos, appointed by Calvin Klein, was officially the creator of this hybrid, though there is still debate over the originality of his idea. One thing is certain: the brand’s 1992 campaign, featuring Mark Wahlberg (Marky Mark) and Kate Moss, and shot by Herb Ritts made everyone forget about the debate, directly stamping Calvin Klein with the label of sexual controversy mastermind.

Prompted by the low-slung jeans, traced back to prisoners’ belt ban, and later adopted by rappers and inner-city gangs, Calvin Klein used the cultural moment as a form of advertisement, showing prominent branding on the visible waistband.

Klein’s genius publicity and models like Kate Moss and Christy Turlington, captured on his provocative shots, popularized this new form of publicity, while the waistband branding and racy photoshoots were soon adopted by other underwear brands.

Though the general look of underpants has not seen much change since the 90s, materials have been leading the innovation in the underwear market. As fitness, exercise and healthy lifestyle become more prominent, new fabrics like Lycra, qualities like moisture transportation and lightness, techniques like laser cutting and seamless knitting have dominated the retail space.

That being said, adjustments to the fit are continuously improving the experience of wearing underpants: panty lines have not only become invisible but also unpalpable. In 2008, a new ‘Anti-Muffin Top’ waistband was introduced by Andrew Christian, who aimed to free the wearers of the love handle look and give them more confidence and support.

Another novelty, reminiscing of the Middle Ages’ codpieces is the released in 2007 Wonderjock. Its inventor, Australian brand aussieBum, aimed to replicate the effect of the Wonderbra, pushing the wearer’s genitals up, creating a ripple effect for their confidence, while also providing support.

English supermodel Kate Moss wearing a diaphanous silver dress at the Elite Model Agency party for the Look of the Year Contest at the Hilton Hotel, London, September 1993. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The 2020s

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the lines of various stages of dress and undress have been ultimately blurred. The pursuit of making up for lost youth and vicariously living through one’s outfits has pushed many representatives of Gen Z to both experiment with clothing and show off more skin. Often this trend manifests in turning underpants into outerwear, which we have witnessed on social media platforms, catwalks, and young influencers alike.

The words of author Valerie Steele have, thus, never rung truer that wearing underpants in the 2020s constitutes as being “simultaneously dressed and undressed”.

Information Sources:

https://www.thecollector.com/history-of-underwear/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/underwear-history-ancient-boxers-briefs

https://crfashionbook.com/a-visual-history-of-underwear-as-outerwear/

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/a-brief-history-of-mens-underwear?srsltid=AfmBOooyuT4KF5rNZk1dUtYYUCnc2z0wn7KMu28zAY_ZAtPpWQrBxNyY

Image Sources:

Victoria and Albert Museum

Getty Images

eBay

https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/

https://malevus.com/subligaculum/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subligaculum