Louis’s Reviews > The History of Underclothes > Status Update

“Women have long considered men’s underwear as plain prose, but think of their own as poetical.”

“Man’s clothing was profoundly affected but the growing taste for sports, the influence of which was two-fold. For one thing, it materially broke through the barriers of class. The other influence of sport was to spread a taste for more comfortable clothes in daily life, and ‘the top hat and frock coat’ were gradually becoming a specialized uniform for particular occasions.” (1897)

“And prively he caught her by the queynte.”

“Underclothes could also symbolize the discipline of humanity. To appear clad only in underclothes was a voluntary form of self abasement often practiced by pilgrims.”

“Man’s conservative habit has clung to the ancient names of his underwear, while woman has exercised her imagination in devising new ones for hers, with a preference for diminutives - 'undies,' 'cami-bocks, 'cami-knicks,' 'bras,' ‘slips'; it scarcely needs a psychologist to point out that thereby her aim is to give them fresh erotic values, especially as they have become 'fine degrees and beautifully less.'”