A Bit of History on Drawers (See the drawers I made!)



Front of a pair of drawers I made.

 I love this history of underwear! I have so much fun with it :) Today, I wanted to give you just a tidbit on women's drawers.

Drawers came about in the late 18th century for females, however they weren't a commonality until around 1830 when women began to wear drawers/pantaloons/pantalettes almost all the time.

Back of the drawers.

Drawers were calf to ankle or knee length, made mostly of linen or silk. They were however used more widely by the upper class than the lower class. So ladies…we’ve technically only been wearing some form of underwear for 181 years to cover our lady parts down under…not that long… and if our ancestors weren’t nobles—which mine were Irish dairy farmers… it may have been that women in your family were only wearing underwear for maybe a century or so.


There is a difference between drawers, pantaloons and pantalettes. Drawers were shorter. Depending on your social status/wealth, the craftsmanship, fabric and frills would be completely different. Most drawers were crotchless. Why you ask? Have you ever helped a woman lift her wedding gown and shimmy down her panties to pee?  It is a TASK!  If only the bride would have gone commando or worn crotchless undies. Ah-ha! So, it made certain tasks much easier, you see? I'm sure their male counterparts were also pleased :)

Shows the "crotchless" section of the drawers.

Pantaloons and pantalettes often had pretty lace and embroidery along the bottoms—much like on the sample drawers I made, and were meant to be seen when a woman lifted her skirts, to say, walk over a puddle or up some stairs. Pantalettes, were not only crotchless, they were in fact two separate pieces that covered the legs and tied around the waist. Pantaloons, were more like an extended version of the drawers—coming down to the ankles.

Hope you enjoyed this short lesson!

Cheers,
Eliza

What's Covering His Naughty Bits?

Welcome back to History Undressed!

I couldn't resist an undressed pic of Gerard Butler...sigh...

So far the polls are saying people are most interested in clothing. Well since we are history undressed, today we will discuss the fabulous life of men’s underwear. Next week I will do female undergarments.

I’m not going to go into t-shirts or *gasp* men wore girdles? I’m simply interested in what covered the naughty bits…


(And yes, men like Beau Brummel wore girdles…it kept their back straight, among other excuses...)



Modern man's skivvies aren't that much different than men of yesterday. But you have to admit that today's man looks sexier than hell in underwear, or at least this model does, YUM!


In ancient times the men wore loincloths, and actually it is noted that shepherd's in France were still wearing them in the 1800's.




But let us move forward to the middle ages in England, when braies, codpieces and chausses came into being.


Below is a picture of Charles V wearing his sexy braies and codpiece.

Men back in the day sure loved to show off the masculine shape of their...legs.



Braies in the middle ages were made out of linen. The man would step into them like pants, and they tied at the waist and around the leg to keep them on. In earlier medieval years the braies and chausses were much baggier, and became more closely fit towards the 1500's. If you look closely at this picture you can see that his braies went to about the knee, where his chausses took over the covering of his legs.


A codpiece was the flap over the genetalia that either tied or buttoned closed. Added to this were the chausses, which covered the legs to keep them warm. Chausses usually attached to the braies with a cord or tie. Nothing was worn over the chausses so you could say that anybody could see a man's underwear all day long.



It should be noted that paintings of workers typically show their braies as being more pant-like than what we think of today's underwear.



The painting above, of Charles V, was done in the 1500's. Prior to men wearing shorter doublets that let it all hang out, they wore tunics, which were longer, and would cover the braies. But that is another day...



The codpiece at first was worn out of necessity, seeing as the braies were open, and chausses only covered the legs, a man could be completely exposed... And with the shortening of the doublet in later years, a man could be walking around with his package hanging free. Which could be good or bad, depending on how naughty you were.




Henry VIII was known for padding his codpiece...was he compensating for something?



This picture of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, from Showtime's, The Tudors, is skantily clad in his hollywood version of braies. Hold on, I need to wipe the drool off my chin...

The picture of the real Henry VIII exposes his over stuffed cod...piece.


Henry's padding of his codpiece set about a trend and many more men would pad their codpieces, and even shape them oddly...trying to bring attention to their virility I'm sure.




During the Regency and Victoian eras, men's underwear changed only slightly. There were no longer any braises and chausses, but drawers and hose.






The drawers were about knee length, with an opening in the front for personal matters, ie. urination, or in my mind, easy access! They were made of cotton, wool flannel and for some, silk.





I don't know about you, but I prefer Colin aka Mr. Darcy in the buff...


Now onto sexy highlanders...What did they wear under a kilt?





You guessed it...nothing! Talk about sexy...








If you ever encounter a highlander, I dare you to ask him what he has underneath, you may be surprised at the answer... They love it when a lady asks, it gives them a chance to tease you. Here are some typical answers:

How badly do you want to know? (very badly!)
On a good day, lipstick. (Bad boy!)
Sorry I'm a bit shy, and not good with words. Give me your hand... (he's not shy at all!)


Hopefully some of the information in this blog is helpful to you. If not, at least you can drool over the pictures!

Until next time...let's keep these men of history, undressed...