blah I thought I posted this already, butg it's nowhere to be found.
For the sake of edification
small·clothes
/ˈsmɔlˌkloʊz, -ˌkloʊðz/
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smawl-klohz, -kloh
th
z]
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–plural noun 1.
British. small, personal items of clothing, as underwear, handkerchiefs, etc.
2. knee breeches, esp. the close-fitting ones worn in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.
Also, in the book "Seeing Through CLothes", Anne Hollander says women didn't start wearing underwear until the mid 19th century. Before that they wore petticoats and knee socks
from wikipedia
Middle Ages and Renaissance
In the
Middle Ages, western men's underwear became looser fitting. The loincloth was replaced by loose,
trouser-like clothing called
braies, which the wearer stepped into and then laced or tied around the waist and legs at about mid-calf. Wealthier men often wore
chausses as well, which only covered the legs.
[7]
By the time of the
Renaissance, braies had become shorter to accommodate longer styles of chausses. Chausses were also giving way to form-fitting
hose,
[7] which covered the legs and feet. Fifteenth-century hose were often particolored, with each leg in a different-coloured fabric or even more than one colour on a leg. However, many types of braies, chausses and hose were not intended to be covered up by other clothing, so they were not actually underwear in the strict sense.
Braies were usually fitted with a front flap that was buttoned or tied closed. This
codpiece allowed men to
urinate without having to remove the braies completely.
[7] Codpieces were also worn with hose when very short
doublets –
vest-like garments tied together in the front and worn under other clothing – were in fashion, as early forms of hose were open at the
crotch.
Henry VIII of England began padding his codpiece, which caused a spiralling trend of larger and larger codpieces that only ended by the end of the 16th century. It has been speculated that the King may have had the
venereal disease syphilis, and his large codpiece may have included a bandage soaked in medication to relieve its symptoms.
[7] Henry VIII also wanted a healthy son and may have thought that projecting himself in this way would portray fertility. Codpieces were sometimes used as a pocket for holding small items.
[7]
Over the upper part of their bodies, both medieval men and women usually wore a close-fitting shirt-like garment called a
chemise in France, or a smock or shift in England. The forerunner of the modern-day
shirt, men tucked long chemises into their braies and wore their outer clothing on top. Women wore them underneath their
gowns or
robes, sometimes with
petticoats over the chemise. Elaborately
quilted petticoats might be displayed by a cut-away dress, in which case they served a skirt rather than an undergarment. During the 16th century, the
farthingale was popular. This was a petticoat stiffened with
reed or
willow rods so that it stood out from a woman's body like a cone extending from the waist.
Corsets also began to be worn about this time. At first they were called pairs of bodies, which refers to a stiffened decorative
bodice worn on top of another bodice stiffened with
buckram, reeds, canes,
whalebone or other materials. These were not the small-waisted, curved corsets familiar from the
Victorian era, but straight-lined corsets that flattened the bust.
There is a myth that
Crusaders, worried about the
fidelity of their wives, forced them to wear
chastity belts. There is no reference, image, or surviving belt to support this story. Most historians of this period are of the view that a chastity belt was worn to prevent sexual assault and that the woman kept the key.[
citation needed]
Men's braies and hose were eventually replaced by simple cotton, silk or
linen drawers, which were usually knee-length trousers with a button flap in the front.
[7]
probably all the info you'll need
