Erotic Fashion: Lingerie
Last reviewed: 19.10.2021
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Antiquity did not know the variety and exquisite linen - because of the climate, there was simply no need for it. However, one of the main principles of the erotic fashion - pars pro toto (part instead of the whole) - was well known. Apuleius in "Metamorphoses" describes "a cleanly shaven woman's place", which was slightly camouflaged "rather to skillfully shade it than to cover up shyly." The historian Polybius gives a description of the feast of the king of Antigonus, at which the dancers delighted the guests: "The dance was becoming more voluptuous and searing." They remove the veils from the head and shoulders, and now they are completely naked except for the tiny pantaloons that barely cover the middle part of the trunk ".
The Chinese, who succeeded a lot in the art of the "spring palace," also considered incomplete exposure more erotic than the state "what the mother gave birth to". The pictures of the XIII-XIV centuries depict lovers in short blouses, sometimes both, sometimes the blouse is only worn on a woman. Manchu images of a later period show women in peculiar "nazhivotnikah" on thin zavyazochkah. A fundamentally important and exceptional feature of Chinese eros should be considered the closing of the feet with special bandages. The most intimate and thrilling game was the unwinding of the legs, which meant complete exposure.
To completely strip the Japanese prostitute, it was required to remove from her traditional silk "sheet", covering the "intimate place." Silk was used because this material best preserves the "female" smell, which the Japanese (and not only them) considered exciting.
The Renaissance epoch did not enrich the European "linen" fashion, because the freedom of morality, which did not know restraint, made it possible to completely nude in bed (the custom of sleeping without a shirt prevailed), during bathing, in a bath, etc. At best, in such situations, men wore a small apron, and women - only bracelets, necklaces and jewelry in a hairstyle.
In the XVII and XVIII centuries appears the lower skirt, to look under which the cavaliers were all the more interesting, that no pants were put on by ladies. Exciting function of underwear is made by shoes, stockings and garters. There is a whole "art show foot" - retrousser. Garters are carried above the knees and supplied with slogans, the reading of which, or rather, the possibility of reading them, becomes an important part of the erotic game.
In the XIX century there is a real underwear revolution. Underwear increasingly serves hygienic purposes and more and more - erotic stimulation. Pantaloons, replacing the lower skirt, make it very small, they never go below the knees. At the same time, trousers are decorated with all sorts of ruffles, bows, etc., in search of a new erotic attraction, they invent all kinds of combinations of pantaloons with a shirt or skirt. Stockings continue to be an important means of influencing a man. The dictionary "Eros" (1820) asserts that "a thin white stocking, fitting due to its elasticity of calf and leg, is so tight that the beautiful curvy forms of these parts of the body are tenderly rounded, able to ... Directly enchant." Dark dangling stockings produce just the reverse impression ".
Fashion, as it should, changes - now black is considered to be the most suitable for erotic linen on a par with white, which prevailed in the XIX century. For men, stimulants are clothing that tightly surrounds the woman's breasts and buttocks. Women are weaker responding to such specific stimuli, for them the main causative agent is the man himself. However, the genitals, clearly outlined by closely fitting underpants, can act as a stimulant.
Excitation is a complex and quite individual mechanism. Some are worried about a tight-fitting, with a special fabric structure, clothing that emphasizes the protruding pubis, hair on it. Others "get bogged down" from the "threat", which is symbolized by black color, leather and buckles. Modern industry is able to satisfy any, most refined or most bizarre inquiries in this field. For example, the catalog of the American firm "Doc Johnson" - the largest manufacturer of sexual toys and accessories - contains dozens of models of erotic lingerie. About the styles say their names: "Fifi, the french made" - "Fifi, a French girl" (translucent set of panties and shirts with hearts, laces, etc.); "tigress", "unveiled" - can be translated as "openable, accessible to penetration" (transparent pantyhose with edged lace slit between the legs); "after dark" - "how it gets dark" (black panties with a pretty white semaphore in the pubic area); "dark nymph"; "wild game"; "teddy bear", etc.
Men's erotic underwear - mostly shorts (except for a kind of wrestling overalls of black leather). As a rule, they are made of a cloth that looks wet, i.e., emphasizing forms; or a grid (almost lace), these forms are directly detectable. The names of the models are emphatically brutal: "the joy of the jungle" (with a zipper in the front); "security guard"; "igrun"; "spearman"; "Mr. Stallion" (in the English name "mr. Stud" - a play of words, meaning also rivets: they cover the whole surface of cowards); again, the semaphore - this time "after six", that is, it does not start as it gets dark, but immediately after six; etc. As with all the products of large companies working in this field, the laundry undergoes a thorough hygienic and sexological check.
Our excursion into the field of erotic linen is compulsorily brief, the history of fashion and eroticism has saved a huge amount of materials (and even patterns). I will add only that the dispute between beauty and use seems to be pointless, because it is useless, there is no beauty.