There are lots of things in life that we have thought long and hard about without ever actually finding the answers. For example, let’s talk about women’s underwear. For any men who are reading, this is not that kind of party, so please exit stage left. All jokes aside, if you are anything like us, you have probably found yourself wondering the same thing at some point in time.
Little did we know that there are actually multiple reasons that need to be discussed! It all started when one person took to Reddit and asked the question in a public forum. “Why do so many panties have that little bow on the centre front? Where did the tradition come from?” they asked. It did not take long before they finally received the answer they were looking for.
“As for the roots of the tradition? It comes from pre-elastic days, when your underthings were held in place by a bit of ribbon threaded through the eyelet lace at the tops. The little bow is where you tied that ribbon, and of course it’s in the front because that’s the easiest place to do something like that,” someone replied.
We had no idea that this was such a simple thing to understand. We were expecting a far more complicated explanation, to be honest. There is another explanation that makes a lot of sense, too. The bow was placed on women’s underwear because of the realities of olden times. This is another aspect that we did not think but we are surprised that we didn’t.
You see, in the olden days, women did not have the benefit of using elastic for a one-size-fits-all style underwear. Instead, they had to lace the underwear and pull it tight to fit their bodies. They would tie a bow in the front to hold the tie tight.
In the present day, there is not as much need for the bow. It seems to have persisted for reasons that are related almost entirely to the aesthetic appeal. Let’s face it, these bows just look really pretty.
Even if they do not have many purposes outside of being decorative, that’s okay. We still love the bow all the same.
At least we know the history now!