Lingerie-Supply.com

Posted on 9th Sep 2011 @ 7:58 AM

From the Old French linge, meaning “linen,” the term “lingerie” was originally introduced into the English language as a euphemism for scandalous underclothing. While the actual term “lingerie” was not in widespread use until the late 1850s, lingerie as it implies general underclothing has a rich and elaborate history that consistently switches between the feminine and boyish as well as the painful and practical. From the laced corset “wasp waists” and “false buttocks” to the uplifted busts of the early 1990 supermodels, lingerie has helped define what it means to look beautiful while at the same time revealing a great deal about a society’s cultural and political values (Steele 2001). The history of lingerie, then, is a history of gendered fashion, power, and sexuality.

Ancient Lingerie: From Egypt to Rome

It is impossible to say exactly when the history of lingerie started, but it seems that the first record comes from ancient Egypt around 3000 B.C. In general, clothing was a status symbol for the Egyptians, and higher-ranking women would wear narrow tunics as undergarments that started below the chest, extended to the ankles, and were supported by a crosswise shoulder strap. Sometimes they would draw tunics around to the front of the body to mold the waist. Slave and servants wore no undergarments; they wore only simple loin cloths or went naked. Several female terra cotta figurines found throughout the ancient Near East appear to wear several different types of undergarments. One of them is a Babylonian girl from about 3000 B.C. who is wearing what might be considered briefs that look as though it could have been derived from the loin cloth. Another female figure from 2000 B.C., found in Crete, depicts the first recorded corset-like bodice and crinoline (a caged or hoped underskirt) that shoves the bare breast upward (Ewing 1972). Both are interesting in that they show similarities to lingerie eons later in the western world.

In classical Greece, several female statues wear a crossed band over their shoulders and across the breast, as in the famous statue of the charioteer at Delphi. TheOdyssey and Iliad mention women’s undergarments, as does Herodotus, Aristophanes, and the later Hellenistic writer Lacian (Ewing 1972). In these texts, women are described as wearing a band of linen known as the zoné around the waist and lower torso to shape and control them. Other Greek words also appear to describe women’s undergarments, including the apodesmos (meaning a band, breast band, or girdle), mastodeton (or breast band, which actually flattens the bust) and, occasionally,mastodesmos (with a similar meaning) (Ewing 1972). These garments appear to presage the bra as well as the corset.