Knickers  

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In 1877, French artist Édouard Manet exhibited "Nana", a life-size portrayal of a courtesan in undergarments, standing before her fully clothed gentleman caller. The model for it was the popular courtesan Henriette Hauser.
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In 1877, French artist Édouard Manet exhibited "Nana", a life-size portrayal of a courtesan in undergarments, standing before her fully clothed gentleman caller. The model for it was the popular courtesan Henriette Hauser.

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In the United Kingdom, Ireland and some fellow Commonwealth nations, knickers is a word for women's undergarments: "Don't get your knickers in a twist" (i.e., "don't get all hot under the collar," or, in U.S. usage, "don't get your panties in a bunch." Australian and British usage is "don't get your knickers in a knot" or "twist"). George Cruikshank, whose illustrations are classic icons for Charles Dickens' works, also did the illustrations for Washington Irving's droll History of New York (published in 1809) when it was published in London. He showed the old-time Knickerbockers, Irving's fictitious Dutch colonial family, in their loose knee-length Dutch breeches. Consequently, by 1859 relatively short loose ladies' undergarments, a kind of abbreviated version of pantalettes or pantaloons, were known as "knickers" in England. In the United States, "knickers" refers to three-quarter length pants worn by men.

There are now many names for the undergarments that previously have been called knickers, such as panties, thongs, g-strings, briefs, shorts, tangas, etc.

Note that while the term 'knickers' refers almost exclusively to women's underwear, 'knicks', knick-knacks' and similar more masculine variations are acceptable monikers for men's underwear, particularly for young boys.

Other uses

The appellation "Tarty Knickers" has come to be applied to women who dress in a way which is ostentatious or sexually provocative.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Knickers" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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