Meta tags:
description=A brief history of underwear from the earliest kinds in the Ancient World up to the present day;
author=Tim Lambert;

Headings (most frequently used words):

underwear, century, history, of, early, 19th, 20th, post, navigation, recent, articles, categories, share, this, related,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (57), women (18), #underwear (18), they (17), wore (17), and (16), called (16), century (15), became (12), history (11), 19th (11), was (11), were (10), histories (9), men (9), knickers (8), long (8), pants (7), world (6), new (6), also (6), word (6), but (6), british (5), towns (5), cities (5), share (5), drawers (5), known (5), came (5), from (5), sometimes (5), articles (4), key (4), across (4), opens (4), window (4), britain (4), invented (4), knee (4), for (4), with (4), late (4), that (4), their (4), garments (4), linkedin (3), facebook (3), local (3), famous (3), ages (3), around (3), post (3), went (3), usa (3), shorts (3), popular (3), johns (3), first (3), because (3), vests (3), garment (3), bloomers (3), loose (3), trousers (3), not (3), however (3), dark (2), historical (2), events (2), brief (2), people (2), dynasties (2), countries (2), villages (2), whatsapp (2), shorter (2), sale (2), 1940s (2), down (2), well (2), below (2), still (2), she (2), two (2), joined (2), usually (2), open (2), legs (2), 20th (2), them (2), made (2), corsets (2), soon (2), woolen (2), say (2), pair (2), panties (2), early (2), under (2), dress (2), shift (2), about (2), pantalettes (2), only (2), york (2), dutchman (2), his (2), when (2), knickerbockers (2), shortened (2), which (2), much (2), more (2), linen (2), tim (2), menu (2), website, galexia, creative, agency, ltd, email, youtube, categories, submarines, ships, balloons, airplanes, pilots, recent, search, alton, next, logbook, lyndhurst, school, north, end, portsmouth, 1920, 1955, previous, navigation, categorized, daily, life, past, published, april, 2021, related, this, last, revised, 2026, national, day, august, out, use, underpants, fronts, 1935, 1938, boxer, 1925, 1920s, ended, above, 1950s, many, briefs, 1970s, briefer, 1990s, thongs, meanwhile, 1913, mary, phelps, jacob, modern, bra, used, handkerchiefs, ribbon, between, closed, replaced, patented, 1868, man, named, gideon, dorsey, union, suits, 1875, susan, taylor, converse, introduced, improved, version, emancipation, suit, supposed, emancipate, proved, nobody, sure, why, some, combinations, one, victorian, elizabeth, miller, amelia, bloomer, promoted, idea, 1849, time, very, plain, decorated, lace, bands, winter, often, today, consisted, separate, waist, really, beginning, 1800s, nightie, like, now, chemise, after, 1800, longer, frills, bottom, girls, drawn, same, way, draw, curtains, where, does, come, comes, novel, diedrich, knickerbocker, supposedly, living, written, washington, irving, illustrations, book, showed, wearing, fitting, lower, body, sport, too, diminutive, derived, character, italian, comedy, pantalone, ankles, most, ones, 18th, england, pantaloons, mean, covered, whole, leg, worn, over, elaborate, during, middle, braies, did, normally, wear, until, 16th, whalebone, ancient, egyptians, loincloths, romans, both, roman, loincloth, subligaculum, band, cloth, leather, chest, strophium, lambert, contact, blog, home, close, skip, content,

Text of the page (random words):
a history of underwear local histories skip to content local histories tim s history of british towns cities and so much more menu close home articles open menu histories of british towns villages and cities histories of countries and key towns and cities around the world history of british dynasties brief histories of famous people across the world and ages articles of the key dark historical events across the world about blog contact a history of underwear by tim lambert early underwear the ancient egyptians sometimes wore loincloths the romans also wore underwear both roman men and women wore a loincloth or shorts called a subligaculum women also wore a band of cloth or leather around their chest called a strophium during the middle ages men wore linen shorts called braies but women did not normally wear knickers until the 19th century their only underwear was a long linen garment called a shift which they wore under their dress from the 16th century women wore corsets made with whalebone 19th century underwear in the 19th century underwear became much more elaborate the word pants is derived from a character in an italian comedy called pantalone he wore garments that came down to his ankles when most men wore ones that came to the knee in 18th century england they were called pantaloons in the 19th century the word became shortened to pants in britain pants came to mean long drawers that covered the whole leg the garments worn over them became known as trousers the word drawers was invented because underwear was drawn on in the same way we say draw the curtains where does the word knickers come from it comes from a novel called history of new york by diedrich knickerbocker supposedly a dutchman living in new york it was written by washington irving in britain the illustrations for the book showed a dutchman wearing long loose fitting garments on his lower body when men wore loose trousers for a sport they were sometimes called knickerbockers however women s underwear was soon called knickerbockers too in the late 19th century the word was shortened to knickers in the usa women s underwear is called panties which is a diminutive of pants at the beginning of the 1800s women wore a long nightie like garment under their dress but it was now called a chemise not a shift however after about 1800 they also wore drawers sometimes they came below the knee or sometimes they were longer garments with frills at the bottom called pantalettes however in the late 19th century only girls not women wore pantalettes today we still say a pair of knickers or panties that is because in the early 19th century women s underwear consisted of two separate legs joined at the waist they really were a pair at first women s drawers were usually very plain but in the late 19th century they were decorated with lace and bands in the winter women often wore woolen knickers and woolen vests victorian women s underwear was sometimes called bloomers elizabeth miller invented loose trousers for women amelia bloomer promoted the idea in 1849 and they became known as bloomers in time long underwear also became known as bloomers by the late 19th century in britain men s underwear was called pants men also wore vests some men wore combinations of pants and vests in one garment long johns were first made for women they were patented in 1868 by a man named gideon w dorsey at first they were called union suits in 1875 susan taylor converse introduced an improved version she called it an emancipation suit because it was supposed to emancipate women from corsets but long johns soon proved to be popular with men as well they became known as long johns but nobody is sure why 20th century underwear in the 19th century women s underwear was usually open between the legs but in the 20th century closed knickers replaced them meanwhile in 1913 mary phelps jacob invented the modern bra she used two handkerchiefs joined by a ribbon in the 19th century knickers came down to well below the knee in the 1920s they became shorter they ended above the knee by the 1940s and 1950s many women wore briefs in the 1970s knickers became briefer still in the 1990s thongs became popular men s underwear also became shorter the word drawers went out of use and they became known as underpants or pants y fronts went on sale in the usa in 1935 they went on sale in britain in 1938 boxer shorts were invented in the usa in 1925 they became popular in the 1940s national underwear day is 5 august last revised 2026 share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on whatsapp opens in new window whatsapp related published 5 april 2021 categorized as daily life in the past post navigation previous post the logbook of lyndhurst school north end portsmouth 1920 1955 next post a history of alton search recent articles famous women pilots a history of airplanes a history of balloons a history of ships a history of submarines categories histories of british towns villages and cities histories of countries and key towns and cities around the world history of british dynasties brief histories of famous people across the world and ages articles of the key dark historical events across the world local histories facebook youtube email linkedin website by galexia creative agency ltd