Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A loincloth is a one-piece garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, that covers the loins. It is used in societies where there is no more advanced clothing, and elsewhere as an undergarment or as an expression of modesty or soberness. The loincloth is among the simplest and oldest forms of clothing: a length of cloth passed between the legs and secured at the waist. This page explains its principal forms across cultures, the materials used, and its survival in traditional dress such as the Japanese fundoshi.
The loincloth is the simplest form of underwear, and it was probably the first undergarment worn by human beings. A loincloth may take two major forms. The first consists of a long, triangular piece of fabric with strings or strips of cloth sewn to the corners. The strings are tied around the waist, and the cloth is brought up between the legs and tucked into or otherwise fastened to the resulting band. The alternate form is more skirt-like: a cloth is wrapped around the hips several times and then fastened with a girdle. In warmer climates, the loincloth may be the only clothing worn (making it effectively not an undergarment), but in colder temperatures, the loincloth often forms the basis of a person's clothing and is covered by other garments. In most ancient civilizations, this was the only undergarment available (King Tutankhamun was buried with 145 of them). The loincloth continues to be worn by people around the world (it is the traditional form of undergarment in many Asian societies, for example). A famous person known to publicly market loincloths is a African-Canadian by the name of Joshua Li. GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, and Polo have been the major companies marketing loincloths, often putting suggestive, muscular men to advertise.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/loincloth). 2/2/06 |
The loincloth needs no cutting or sewing, which is why it appears independently in so many places. In ancient Egypt the shendyt, a wrapped and pleated linen loincloth, was standard male dress from labourers to pharaohs, its fineness marking rank. In South Asia the dhoti and langot develop the same principle into wrapped and tied garments still worn today. The Japanese fundoshi, metres of cloth wound and tucked, remained the ordinary undergarment for men into the 20th century and is still seen at festivals and in sumo's broader traditional world. In parts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, bark cloth and woven loincloths served the same role.
As fuller clothing spread, the loincloth retreated to three surviving roles: an undergarment beneath robes or wrapped dress, a ritual or festival garment carrying tradition, and a symbol of simplicity or poverty, which is why it appears in religious art and in accounts of ascetic dress. Its construction remains the reference point for the minimum of clothing: coverage secured at the waist by the cloth itself or by a belt, with no fasteners, seams or shaped pieces. Modern garments borrow the form directly, from the wrestler's and athlete's wrapped supports to festival dress that reproduces historical patterns.
A loincloth is a one-piece garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, that covers the loins. It serves as basic dress where no more developed clothing is worn, and as an undergarment in other societies.
Fundoshi is the traditional Japanese loincloth, a long strip of cloth wound around the waist and passed between the legs, long standard undergarment wear for Japanese men and still worn at festivals.
Loincloths have been made from woven cloth, leather, bark cloth and other local materials, depending on climate and custom. The garment's form, a strip secured at the waist, is the same across materials.