Historical story

Men's Fashion of the 1400s:Exposed Underpants

Men's fashion of the 1400s (by Giovanni di Ser Giovanni):separate stockings with "visible" underpants

In the attached image you can see a detail of The game of civet, work of Giovanni di Ser Giovanni (1406-1486), brother of the more famous Masaccio; the painting dates back to 1450 and shows us an interesting insight into the daily life of the time in Florence, also from the point of view of fashion.

The two young blondes portrayed on the left who engage in the street game called " del civettino" in fact, as you can see, they have underpants on display , the result of a piece of men's clothing then in vogue:the “separate” socks .

Each leg, as you can see, was wrapped in a single, very tight legging that started from the foot and reached the groin, at whose height it was fastened to the doublet with laces or buttons; the central area of ​​the body, right in correspondence with the genitals, remained uncovered, leaving the men literally "in their underwear".

This type of garment was used throughout the fourteenth century and in the first half of the fifteenth century, until it was partially replaced by the calzabraga, a kind of fuseaux ante litteram ( see :Https://www.pilloledistoria.it/10696/storia-moderna/calzabraga-i-leggings-maschili-del-400) or supplemented by the braghetta, an unusual, nice and cheeky "bag" which, instead of hiding, ended up highlighting and exalting manhood too much (I will deal with the subject in a special post ).