Men's Stays and a Book Recommendation
Posted by Marie-Bernadette on August 18, 1998 at 10:13:15:
In response to Smallclothes, written by BarbaraK on August 17, 1998 at 20:08:00
...when boys were "Breeched" they wore pants and never a support device again.
Actually, men, mainly those of ample proportions, but not necessarily, wore stays, also. A while back Mr. H.C. posted a wonderful picture of "Prinny" being laced into his stays. Other support devices included calf pads to create shapely legs, bum pads to give a man a bum, and coats were sometimes padded in the chest and shoulders. The coat padding continued throughout the century and the calf and bum pads were mostly until the 1830's, I think. I have the Tidings from the 18th C. book and it's pretty good, but the book The History of Underclothes by C.Willet and Phillis Cunnington (Dover, ISBN 0-486-27124-2) goes into detail on this subject and has decent sections on late 18th and early 19th C. underthings and some great illustrations.
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