In order to understand the history of the undershirt, it is essential to grasp the purpose of clothing in general. Today, it is very difficult to find paintings, illustrations or photographs of underwear that predate the 20th century because they were never to be seen in public. There was the same effect as exposing yourself in public has today as exposing one’s undergarment back.
One can observe two schools of thought throughout the evolution of clothes or the men's luxury undershirts. On the one hand, clothes and undergarments were means of covering up people’s sense of shame as understood by the Church. Even Adam and Eve wearing a fig leave because of it was featured in the Bible. The Undershirt Evolves Young men of nobility by the 15th century began to wear at least part of their shirts exposed and the trend of revealing one’s shirt to the public prevailed over time while there was some criticism. After a while, their decorative shirts, such as revealing collars and cuffs were shown by even respectable men in society. You’d never see much of a shirt other than the cuffs and collars up until the end of the 19th century. This is why detachable cuffs and collars were invented. That way only the visible parts had to be washed consistently. To this point, undershirt would have been strictly considered to what we know as a dress shirt today! The peasants and poor working class would sometimes wear a tunic that later developed into the sleeveless V Neck Undershirts as we know it today while a gentleman would only wear a shirt without an additional undershirt. Usually, to keep them warm it was made of wool or flannel. On the other hand, he would wear more overgarments if a gentleman were too cold, but without adding a layer underneath. In the US, patented in 1868 the so-called Union Suit was an overall style undergarment. It was later adapted by men as well, although it was first worn by women. This is so as opposed to the elegant set it was always associated with rural demographic, a blue collar. Follow us; https://plus.google.com/b/100962749684818745331/100962749684818745331/posts
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