A Study on the Men′s Underclothes of Baroque Age

바로크 시대의 남성 속옷에 관한 고찰

During the Baroque Ages, the underclothes of both sexs developed a new significance. They ceased altogether to be merely utilitarian in function, and were exploited, to a striking degree, to indicate class distinction and sex attraction. Up to this period, as e have seen, the underclothes of men and women had very much the same significance, but from now on there is a division. The male garments are designed mainly to express social rank, the female mainly to attract. The man's shirt is an integral part of the visible costume of the find gentleman. After 1660, The fashion portrayed by the men, exhibiting the shirt extruding between the bottom of the waistcoat and the top of the breeches is still more remarkable and significant. The period is important in that it was the last time that the male attempted to give his under clothing an erotic suggestion. It was their experience that silk and linen garments next to the skin were less liable than wool to harbour lice. Until the era of physical cleanliness opened a century later, woollen undergarments were rarely worn. the nineteenth century accepted cleanliness as a sign of class distinction.