Girdle facts for kids
A belt without a buckle, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle in various contexts, especially historical ones, where girdles were a very common part of everyday clothing from antiquity until perhaps the 15th century, especially for women. Most girdles were practical pieces of costume to hold other pieces in place, but some were loose and essentially for decoration. Among the elite these might include precious metals and jewels.
Today, girdles are part of Christian liturgical vestments, and the word is used in other contexts, such as American sports (for what is really a kind of underwear).
The girdle as an undergarment or abbreviated corset around the waist is a different, essentially 20th-century, concept, but from around 1895 there was a fashion for "girdles" as a separate section of a fashionable dress, worn just above the waist on top of the main dress. It was typically up to about eight inches high, and often terminated in a "V" shape. It might be the same colour as the main dress or not. It differs from the earlier Swiss waist of the mid-19th century by not having lacing or boning.
History
The men among the Greeks and Romans wore the girdle upon the loins, and it served them to confine the tunic, and hold the purse, instead of pockets, which were unknown; girls and women wore it under the bosom. The Strophium, Taenia, or Mitra occurs in many figures. In the small bronze Pallas of the Villa Albani, and in figures on the Hamilton Vases, are three cordons with a knot, detached from two ends of the girdle, which is fixed under the bosom. This girdle forms under the breast a knot of ribbon, sometimes in the form of a rose, as occur on the two handsomest daughters of Niobe. Upon the youngest the ends of the girdle pass over the shoulders, and upon the back, as they do upon four Caryatides found at Monte Portio. This part of the dress the ancients called, at least in the time of Isidore, Succinctorium or Bracile.
The girdle was omitted by both sexes in mourning. Often when the tunic was very long, and would otherwise be entangled by the feet, it was drawn over the girdle in such a way as to conceal the latter entirely underneath its folds. It is not uncommon to see two girdles of different widths worn together, one very high up, the other very low down, so as to form between the two in the tunic, a puckered interval; but this fashion was mostly applied to short tunics. The tunic of the Greek males was almost always confined by a girdle.
Among the Anglo-Saxons, it was used by both sexes; by the men to confine their tunic, and support the sword. Some were richly embroidered, and of white leather. A leather strap was chiefly worn by monks.
Sports
In American football, what is called a girdle is worn under the football player's pants to keep the hip, thigh, and tailbone pads in place, making the process of putting on the tight football pants easier. Older girdles resembled chaps, in that they covered only the front of the leg with pads, that snapped on. Modern girdles are essentially a tight pair of compression shorts with pockets for the pads. The girdle was also used in the Mesoamerican ballgame and is used in hockey (National Hockey League).
Some designs are made specifically for use in the sport of ringette.
