Erotic Fashion: Women's Lingerie

Antiquity did not know diverse and exquisite underwear - there was simply no need for it due to the climate. However, one of the main principles of erotic fashion - pars pro toto (part instead of the whole) - was well known. Apuleius in "Metamorphoses" describes "a clean-shaven female place", which was slightly camouflaged "more in order to skillfully shade it than to cover it modestly". The historian Polybius gives a description of a feast at King Antigonus', where the guests were delighted by dancers: "The dance became more and more voluptuous and fiery. They remove the covers from their heads and shoulders, and now they are completely naked, if you do not count the tiny pantaloons that barely cover the middle part of the body."

The Chinese, who had achieved great success in the art of the "spring palace", also considered partial nudity more erotic than the state of being "as naked as a baby". Pictures from the 13th-14th centuries depict lovers in short blouses, sometimes both, sometimes only the woman is wearing a blouse. Manchu images from a later period show women in peculiar "belly dresses" with thin ties. A fundamentally important and exclusive feature of Chinese Eros is the covering of the feet with special bandages. The most intimate and exciting game was unbandaging the legs, which meant complete nudity.

To completely undress a Japanese prostitute, it was necessary to remove the traditional silk "sheet" covering her "intimate area." Silk was used because this material best retains the "feminine" smell, which the Japanese (and not only them) considered arousing.

The Renaissance did not enrich the European "lingerie" fashion, since the unrestrained freedom of morals allowed for complete nudity in bed (the custom of sleeping without a shirt was prevalent), while bathing, in the bathhouse, etc. At best, in such situations, men wore a small apron, and women - only bracelets, necklaces and jewelry in their hair.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the petticoat appeared, and it was all the more interesting for gentlemen to look under it, since the ladies did not wear any pantaloons. Shoes, stockings, and garters performed the arousing function of underwear. A whole "art of showing the leg" - retrousser - arose. Garters were carried above the knees and were supplied with mottos, the reading of which, or rather, the provision of the opportunity to read them, became an important part of the erotic game.

In the 19th century, a real revolution in lingerie took place. Underwear served less and less hygienic purposes and more and more - erotic arousal. Pantaloons, which replaced the petticoat, were made very small, they never reached below the knees. At the same time, pantaloons were decorated with all sorts of frills, bows, etc., in search of new erotic appeal, all sorts of combinations of pantaloons with a shirt or skirt were invented. Stockings continued to be an important means of influencing a man. The dictionary "Eros" (1820) states that "a thin white stocking, which, thanks to its elasticity, fits the calves and leg so tightly that the beautiful lush forms of these parts of the body appear tenderly rounded, is capable of... downright enchanting. Dark, dangling stockings produce just the opposite impression."

Fashion, as it should, changes - now black is considered the most suitable color for erotic lingerie, along with white, which was dominant in the 19th century. For men, stimulants are items of clothing that tightly fit a woman's breasts and buttocks. Women react weaker to such specific irritants; for them, the main stimulant is the man himself. However, the genitals, clearly outlined by tight-fitting panties, can act as a stimulant.

Arousal is a complex and rather individual mechanism. Some are excited by tight-fitting clothes with a special fabric structure that emphasize the protruding pubis and the hair on it. Others are "turned on" by the "threat" symbolized by the color black, leather and buckles. Modern industry is able to satisfy any, the most sophisticated or the most bizarre requests in this area. For example, the catalog of the American company "Doc Johnson" - the largest manufacturer of sex toys and accessories - contains dozens of models of erotic lingerie. Their names speak about the styles: "Fifi, the french made" - "Fifi, the French girl" (a translucent set of panties and a shirt with hearts, lace, etc.); "tigress", "unveiled" - can be translated as "openable, accessible for penetration" (transparent tights with a lace-trimmed slit between the legs); "after dark" - "as 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 - mainly briefs (with the exception of a kind of wrestling suit made of black leather). As a rule, they are made of a fabric that looks wet, i.e. emphasizes the shapes; or mesh (almost lace), which directly reveals these shapes. The names of the models are emphatically brutal: "jungle joy" (with a zipper in the front); "security guard"; "player"; "spearman"; "mr. Stud" (in the English name "mr. Stud" - a play on words, also meaning rivets: the entire surface of the briefs is covered with them); again, semaphore - this time "after six", that is, the action begins not when it gets dark, but immediately after six; etc. Like all products of large companies working in this area, the underwear undergoes a thorough hygienic and sexological check.

Our excursion into the field of erotic lingerie is necessarily brief, the history of fashion and eroticism has preserved a huge amount of materials (and even patterns). I will only add that, in general, the dispute between beauty and usefulness seems meaningless, because useless beauty does not exist.