"You can't go higher!", Or the history of garters - the most exciting accessory in a lady's wardrobe

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Women's legs have always attracted men. Even when the dresses were long and lush, the representatives of the opposite sex managed to grab a glimpse of the cherished detail of the women's dress - the garter - giving free rein to their imaginations.

The garter (from the French - "la jarret", which means "popliteal cavity") is rightfully considered one of the oldest attributes of seduction and it is with it that many beautiful legends and interesting facts are associated.

Garters owe their appearance to stockings and the French, who invented them. Initially, to fasten the stockings, they used leather belts with loops, on which the stockings were attached. They were replaced by silk strips and ribbons, which were the first garters. It is known that the highest quality tapes were made in British Coventry and French Lyon. They were tied just above or just below the knee, and some of them were woven with cute sayings like “There is nothing to look for here” or “My heart was given long ago” and rather bold drawings.

The Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, contributed to the design of the garter - she introduced the fashion for lace garter. At the same time, garters began to be decorated with luxurious lace and embroidery. At the end of the 18th century, garters made using the technology of dentist surgeon Martin van Batchell came into vogue - with copper wire springs that were inserted into a thick gasket. Such garters were very expensive, but they certainly did not fall off their feet, putting the lady in a delicate position.

Garters evolved, acquiring elegance, rising higher on the leg, gradually performing not just the function of supporting stockings, but creating intrigue and a field for the imagination of men. Garters began to be decorated with thin lace, satin ribbons, embroidered with beads, rhinestones, precious stones.

It is worth noting that not only ladies' legs were adorned with stockings and garters, they were a significant accessory for men who stubbornly demonstrated their muscular calves and neat ankles pulled into stockings. Stockings with garters were worn by the clergy and courtiers, and at the end of the 16th century this fashion came into the circles of the aristocracy.

The wedding tradition of throwing the garter is associated with a scandal at a ball in Calais in 1348, which was held in honor of the capture of the city. King Edward III was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury, with whom he was in love, and suddenly noticed that one of her garters had fallen. To save the lady from embarrassment and dishonor, he picked up the little thing and, ignoring the whispering of others, tied it around his own left knee, uttering the later famous phrase: “Honi soit qui mal y pence” (“Shame on the one who is ill about will think about it ).

There was another custom that persisted until the 19th century. After the wedding ceremony, the young men ran a race from the church to the bride's house. The one who was the first in this competition received the right to remove the bride's left garter, which could later be tied around the knee of his beloved as an amulet that protects against infidelity.

Every self-respecting lady in the 19th century had "Immoral" cambric pantaloons, with the help of the fair half, they hid their legs and intimate parts of the body under lush dresses.