A Life SO Ordinary

Monday, Oct. 28, 2002

Where did the idea for underwear come from?

Underwear is one of the earliest known types of clothing; its use was recorded as far back as 3000 B.C. It started as a narrow band around the waist from which both decorative and magical pendants were hung. The Egyptians wore woven material wrapped around the body several times and then tied in front.
Loincloths were worn in Crete around 2000 B.C. They were usually decorated, often with intricate patterns. Even today, loincloths are worn in many tropical and semitropical regions of the world.Between 2105 B.C. and 1240 B.C., men in Babylonia and Mesopotamia wore loincloths as undergarments and women wore short skirts as undergarments.
Around A.D. 200 the Romans wore undergarments. Both men and women wore a loincloth similar to our modern briefs. The women also wore a breast band called a "mammillare."
In 1850 Amelia Jenks Bloomer advocated a costume for women made up of a short jacket, a skirt extending below the knee, and loose "Turkish" trousers, which were later referred to as "bloomers." This fashion never caught on, but the term "bloomers" stuck and eventually became the name for loose, baggy underwear worn by women. The term "underwear" did not come into use until 1879.

.which siren are you.

Where did the idea for underwear come from? stopped here at 7:36 pm