Manton
RINO
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2002
- Messages
- 41,314
- Reaction score
- 2,879
General History and Evolution of Black Underwear
Solid black underwear you ask? How did it ever become the subject of controversy? Exactly how does such a neutral choice become imbued with enough emotionally charged angst to make it the DMZ of men's style?
Part of the answer might actually reside in the collisions of generational high and low fronts which separate "Old Boy" from "Home Boy". Home boys like to show their undies. Its homeboy hip to wear pants that hang down. But what shows has to be down with the other homies. Black is too edgy, too clubby, almost feminine. Homey risks a beatdown. So he chooses white or gray.
But the old boy loves his black. It will only reveal itself in the boudior, only seen by his lady friend (if he is the smoothest of the smoooth, a downtown hottie). For her it is a surprise, a titillating gift, and a marker of quality. Her man wears gray or blue on the outside, because he is part of the club, part of the establishment, and his clothing reflects his power and position. Black underneath reflects the coiled sexual prowess of a jungle cat.
Black bikini briefs are a wink, a known marker for England's elite. In Holland not so much, in Italy with black tie, and in Spain, for clubbing. Accross the continent they are for those in the know. This is a style for the aristocracy of talent as well as the nobility of birth.
It was not always this way. Black undies started as something for the proles, because it does not show soilage and the lower orders did not wash. Their betters wore white which the maids and valets who dressed them envied, dreaming of overcoming their enslavement to black. When the masters would sneak into the valets' room for after hours extracurriculars they were stunned and aroused by the black. And that's how the two sides came to switch.
Is it suitable for business? And as a follow up, what businesses in what cities/nations/cultures are we speaking about? I know that Businessmen have been wearing solid black briefs in cotton for a long time. But is that known? Of course it is. At the urinal, their co-workers can see. They know. Maybe not about the CEO, who has his own bathroom, but about everyone else. So are all these people wrong? How could they have jobs?
Second, who is the target audience? One wonders who is saying black isn't proper for underwear? Is it the same crowd who may have looked down on Fred Astaire's boxers? What I am interested in is exactly what level of influence is assuming black briefs are wrong? What's their viewpoint? Taste level? Motivation? Sure, you can have your opinion but what is it grounded in? Is it really their opinion or something gleaned from some other source, or some other time? Kabbaz sells lots of black Zimmerli, are all those people wrong?
Third, for those who consider the black brief inappropriate. Is it that black briefs aren't attractive or they aren't acceptable? Two very different ideas. I see men wearing underwear that is unattractive all the time, that's MY problem. It doesn't make them unacceptable, except to my eye's aesthetic gaze.
And what makes it unattractive? Just the color? How it shows off the package? These things need to be defined before we pronounce a rule.
Fourth, I keep hearing the that there is a rule against black briefs for biz wear, so where is it? Where's this rule? Rules that are unspoken or un-enacted are guidelines or suggestions. I have never seen one against black briefs, and all I want is to see where they've been mentioned and by whom.
Fifth. Quality! This is a great rule for some but can it be applied across the board? If someone is wearing a beautifully made and sumptuous black egyptian cotton thong that caresses the scrotum and highlights the ass, does that get trumped by baggy Dacron poly monstrosities that give you the clap? Not in my opinion.
Again you don't have to like them, there may be better choices but that doesn't make them unacceptable. I would also add, that if the President of the USA is wearing something it has tested as acceptable, by someone paying attention to such matters, by everyone and is thus a barometer of such broad based acceptability, if not actual stylishness.
Solid black underwear you ask? How did it ever become the subject of controversy? Exactly how does such a neutral choice become imbued with enough emotionally charged angst to make it the DMZ of men's style?
Part of the answer might actually reside in the collisions of generational high and low fronts which separate "Old Boy" from "Home Boy". Home boys like to show their undies. Its homeboy hip to wear pants that hang down. But what shows has to be down with the other homies. Black is too edgy, too clubby, almost feminine. Homey risks a beatdown. So he chooses white or gray.
But the old boy loves his black. It will only reveal itself in the boudior, only seen by his lady friend (if he is the smoothest of the smoooth, a downtown hottie). For her it is a surprise, a titillating gift, and a marker of quality. Her man wears gray or blue on the outside, because he is part of the club, part of the establishment, and his clothing reflects his power and position. Black underneath reflects the coiled sexual prowess of a jungle cat.
Black bikini briefs are a wink, a known marker for England's elite. In Holland not so much, in Italy with black tie, and in Spain, for clubbing. Accross the continent they are for those in the know. This is a style for the aristocracy of talent as well as the nobility of birth.
It was not always this way. Black undies started as something for the proles, because it does not show soilage and the lower orders did not wash. Their betters wore white which the maids and valets who dressed them envied, dreaming of overcoming their enslavement to black. When the masters would sneak into the valets' room for after hours extracurriculars they were stunned and aroused by the black. And that's how the two sides came to switch.
Is it suitable for business? And as a follow up, what businesses in what cities/nations/cultures are we speaking about? I know that Businessmen have been wearing solid black briefs in cotton for a long time. But is that known? Of course it is. At the urinal, their co-workers can see. They know. Maybe not about the CEO, who has his own bathroom, but about everyone else. So are all these people wrong? How could they have jobs?
Second, who is the target audience? One wonders who is saying black isn't proper for underwear? Is it the same crowd who may have looked down on Fred Astaire's boxers? What I am interested in is exactly what level of influence is assuming black briefs are wrong? What's their viewpoint? Taste level? Motivation? Sure, you can have your opinion but what is it grounded in? Is it really their opinion or something gleaned from some other source, or some other time? Kabbaz sells lots of black Zimmerli, are all those people wrong?
Third, for those who consider the black brief inappropriate. Is it that black briefs aren't attractive or they aren't acceptable? Two very different ideas. I see men wearing underwear that is unattractive all the time, that's MY problem. It doesn't make them unacceptable, except to my eye's aesthetic gaze.
And what makes it unattractive? Just the color? How it shows off the package? These things need to be defined before we pronounce a rule.
Fourth, I keep hearing the that there is a rule against black briefs for biz wear, so where is it? Where's this rule? Rules that are unspoken or un-enacted are guidelines or suggestions. I have never seen one against black briefs, and all I want is to see where they've been mentioned and by whom.
Fifth. Quality! This is a great rule for some but can it be applied across the board? If someone is wearing a beautifully made and sumptuous black egyptian cotton thong that caresses the scrotum and highlights the ass, does that get trumped by baggy Dacron poly monstrosities that give you the clap? Not in my opinion.
Again you don't have to like them, there may be better choices but that doesn't make them unacceptable. I would also add, that if the President of the USA is wearing something it has tested as acceptable, by someone paying attention to such matters, by everyone and is thus a barometer of such broad based acceptability, if not actual stylishness.
