Men Shirts In Fashion

The shirt was an item of men's underwear until the twentieth century^.Although the woman's chemise was a closely related garment to the man, it is the man's garment that became the modern shirt. In the Middle Ages it was a plain, undyed garment worn next to the skin and under regular garments. In medieval artworks, the shirt is only visible (uncovered) on humble characters^. In the seventeenth century men's shirts were allowed to show, with much the same erotic import as visible underwear today^. In the eighteenth century, instead of underpants, men "relied on the long tails of shirts ... to serve the function of drawers^.Eighteenth century costume historian Joseph Strutt believed that men who did not wear shirts to bed were indecent^.Even as late as 1879, a visible shirt with nothing over it was considered improper.