A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

When did people first start wearing undergarments?

Young women play a ball game wearing subligacula (loincloths) and strophia (breastbands) in a mosaic in a fourth-century AD Roman villa. Most underwear as we know it today evolved in the 20th century

Grappling with bra hooks and slipping on boxers is an instinctive part of getting dressed today, but these sartorial innovations entered our wardrobes in their current form only in the 20th century. Georgian women did not wear knickers, and the Lycra required for men’s briefs was not invented until 1958.

Though these familiar items were absent from historical wardrobes, forms of underwear have existed for millennia. It is unclear, however, whether our ancestors would have thought of the garments they wore closest to the skin as underclothes. Loincloths – lengths of textile wrapped around the crotch – have been worn for thousands of years. But types of loincloth, such as the Egyptian shendyt and Aztec maxtlatl, were routinely worn with nothing on top.

In colder climes, Germanic and Celtic tribes wore their versions of the loincloth, known as braies or braccae, underneath tunics and hose. This layering of clothing recast the loincloth into the role of undergarment, where it gradually transformed into under-breeches before evolving into the pants of today.