A
loincloth is
one-piece garment,
sometimes kept in place by a belt, that is used:
- in societies where there is no more advanced clothing
- as an undergarment
- to express soberness
- Mohandas Gandhi wore a dhoti, a Hindu loincloth, as a way of identifying with the poorest Indians, even though he knew it could be taken as a sign of primitiveness or indecency.
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.
