The shirt is the indispensable piece of clothing in everyone’s wardrobe. The shirt is one of the most common pieces in both a woman’s and a man’s wardrobe. The shirts are colored or white. The white shirt is considered a classic piece, which cannot be missing from any wardrobe.
The ancestor of the shirt is the linen tunic that was worn in the Roman Empire, in the 3rd century AD. It was worn over the head, was knee-length and cinched at the waist with a cloth or file belt. It was used by both men and women, worn under the drapes of togas and peplums, this being in reality the forerunner of underwear.
In the 8th century, the Crusaders will bring from the East a piece called camis, in great vogue among the Persians, with the sleeves cut and sewn separately. The shirt had no buttons and was worn over the head.
At the court of Byzantium, the shirt was worn under heavy clothing, full of pearls and precious stones. This is much tighter than the Roman one, but still no buttons. During the Renaissance, in addition to linen, cotton began to be used as a material, leading to a revolution in underwear. Now the shirt-corset tandem will become famous.
In the Renaissance there was the habit of people to change rarely, once a week with a new underwear, that shirt with the corset extension, and the shirt had the mission of absorbing body secretions, most of the time it was washed very rarely, only a given every few months.
At the court of Louis XIV, the white shirt is part of a ritual, so that a noble, every other day, has the honor of handing the sovereign the shirt that he will put on once he wakes up from sleep. It was a great honor to give the sovereign the shirt he will wear that day.
In the 16th century, the evolving collar appears, wrinkled and wavy in several ways, receiving the name “jabou”. To maintain its rough and hard shape, it is pressed hot with white flour. Soon it turns into the lace collar with rigid and large rolls, which at the Spanish court of Carol Quintul, reaches the dimensions of a mill wheel.
Around the year 1600 at the court of Philip IV of Spain appears the collar finished with Italian, French or Flemish lace, finer and more refined, supported by a small metal pipe. The jabou becomes heavier, being replaced by the refined lace collar.
In the 17th century, the shirt became white and perfumed, and if the budget allowed it, made in Holland, it was joined by the tie, the first form of which was worn by soldiers and gentlemen.
The invention of the sewing machine in 1846 transforms the shirt into a consumer item, being accessible to everyone, even having a detachable collar. It becomes the uniform of gentlemen who duel for a more or less noble goal.
Nowadays the shirt is a versatile piece of clothing, being worn to the opera, to dinner, to work or to a party. Colorful shirts appear that are worn daily. In North America the plaid shirt becomes the symbol of cattle farmers.