Underneath clothes

The history of underneath clothes is very short. Its ancestors were the underneath shirts of the ancient tribes. It was also outerwear at the same time. In the medieval times people still didn't know anything about the underneath clothes. But in this period people start to wear more delicate shirts under the main clothes. It was especially spread among the rich categories of the society.

In the chronics of 16th and 17th century we can read that underneath shirts were considered to be luxury that was available only to rich people. Lacy decorations like cuffs and collars were not the elements of underneath clothes but only the separate details added to the main suit.

Ladies of the rococo period put on their dresses over the corset. During the French revolution women put on the dresses over skin-tight knickers. And only in the first part of the 19th century starts the period of "washed shirts". These were the shirts as for men as for women and could be washed in the hot water. The representatives of nobility worn the clothes more delicate and of the special cut. Only in the end of the past century women began to wear clothes different from the men's shirts. In majority of cases the underneath clothes was made of lawn and sometimes even of silk.

After 1925 the ladies underneath clothes takes its ordinary modern look. The material used for underneath clothes is natural and artificial silk. The traditional colours are pastel shades; the cut has become more elegant. The men's underneath clothes has become modern too. The collars were added to shirts, pence and stockings have become shorter. Americans just after the First World War started to wear very short skin-tight pence in the form of swimming trunks and undershirts without sleeves.

Nowadays the most popular are boxers and bras in the form of a short undershirt. The same happens with bikinis and swimming suits.