Underpants. You wear them virtually every day, but you probably don’t think much about them or their idiosyncrasies. In 2021, several users were ignorant about the purpose of the holes in the front of boxer shorts. We’ve now discovered that some people find women’s underwear fascinating, particularly the small bow that sometimes adorns it.

Although the bow is undeniably ornamental, a narrative that has circulated on the Internet over the years suggests that this was not always the case. “Now? “Because it’s cute, feminine, evokes innocence, and it makes it really easy to tell which side is the front when dressing hastily in the dark,” one Redditor noted in response to a question about where the custom originated.

“What about the traditions’ origins? It dates back to the days when elastic bands were utilized and your pants were secured with a ribbon threaded through the eyelet lace on top. You tied the ribbon in the little bow, which is conveniently positioned in the front, where such an operation is most easily carried out.” Although the theory seems plausible—people enjoyed wearing underwear before elastic was invented in 1820 and became extensively utilized in clothing in the 1900s—there isn’t much evidence to back up the claim.

Men wore loose drawers, or “braies,” that were secured with a drawstring or a belt throughout the medieval era. However, we no longer tie a belt around our underwear to commemorate the tradition, nor do men’s underpants still have bows. There is substantial controversy about what ladies in Europe wore before the fourteenth century. It is a lot to ask of an underpant to offer the majority of our evidence in the form of writing, art, and textiles that have survived to this day.

Following that, ladies wore corsets on occasion, as well as petticoats and nightie-like apparel beneath their dress known as chemises. According to historian Tim Lambert of Local Histories, they wore drawers in the 1800s. They were initially plain, but as the century progressed, they got more decorative, covered in bands and lace.

Women, girls, and small boys all wore pants, which were first introduced in France in the nineteenth century. We call these baggy, long pants a “pair of underpants” since they were split in half and held together with a drawstring. It’s probable that when elastic became popular, these drawstring bows were kept as a decorative element, but the decoration was removed from men’s underwear.

Conversely, it’s possible that underwear manufacturers simply saw it as a lovely, ornamental touch unrelated to historical customs. Who doesn’t enjoy a bow, after all?