geschrieben von balletboy  am 11.06. um 02:28:38

The one person who posts on these boards who probably knowns the history is TOM!  He always had great advice!  Tom can tell the real truth!

My assumption whould be that when Leotard invented the leotard (if he was the first to invent the leotard) probably thought of it as the support for the male under tights.  As leotards are made of fabric the moves somewhat, in the beginning they probably gave enough support.  I know in the 20's and 30's, and probably later, tights for men were made from moleskin, a special weave of cotton.  That's pretty stiff material, but it's woven so it flexes.  And maybe some guys wore an undergarment to keep the leotard clean.

I would also assume there were male dancers that used silk tights, a thinner material, that can flex if it is woven in certian ways.  Maybe when silk was used, the danseur used some undergarment, more for support than to keep the garment clean.

With the onset of nylon, probably everything changed.  Nylon is not that supportive, especially after it's worn a while during warm-ups.  Once again I think guys went for undergarments, and that danseurs probably went for one with more support.

Then there's the development of the allied garment, the jockstrap.  Early jockstraps were inflexible but were designed for the guy on his bike, hence the BIKE jockstrap, manufactured since 1800 and something.  This must have had an influence on the dancebelt along the way.

I'm sure that danseurs tried BIKE jockstraps for support around the turn of the century.  The interesting thing about jockstraps is that they are designed for extended wear by having most of the seams on the outside, so that the wearer's body is confronted with the smoothest possible surface.  Back then atheltes did not wear skin tight clothing, so it didn't matter if the rough edges and seams were on the outside.

On the other hand, gymnasts like Leotard and danseurs began to wear skin tight dancewear so that all the lines of the body would be shown.  Think of where, on your joickstrap, the butt-straps meet the waist band.  That seam would disrupt the danseurs' line.  Ultimately the two separate butt-straps would become the thong for the danseur, to avoid unnatural lines.

That's my guess.  I'm sure there's some guy out there from the Fashion Institue of Technology who has studied this from the academic sense, with historical references.  Your humble balletboy here is a student of technology development and the aforementioned is his conjecture.

This has been fun!

Does anyone else have a conjecture?  Or the real truth?

balletboy

• Re: Dancebelt History - Probably TOM! - Tom - 11.06. 03:18:36