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Suspenders
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Suspenders or braces are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers. Straps may be elasticated, either entirely or only at attachment ends and most straps are of woven cloth forming an X or Y shape at the back. Braces are typically attached to trousers with buttons using leather tabs at the ends or, less correctly, clips. In British English the term suspenders or suspender belt refers to a garter belt, used to hold up stockings.
e have been several precursors to braces throughout the past 300 years, but the modern type were first invented in 1822 by Albert Thurston and were once almost universally worn due to the high cut of mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century trousers, which cut made a belt impractical.
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Encyclopedia
Suspenders or braces are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up trousers. Straps may be elasticated, either entirely or only at attachment ends and most straps are of woven cloth forming an X or Y shape at the back. Braces are typically attached to trousers with buttons using leather tabs at the ends or, less correctly, clips. In British English the term suspenders or suspender belt refers to a garter belt, used to hold up stockings.
History
There have been several precursors to braces throughout the past 300 years, but the modern type were first invented in 1822 by Albert Thurston and were once almost universally worn due to the high cut of mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century trousers, which cut made a belt impractical. After losing popularity in the first World War, as men became accustomed to uniform belts, braces were still standard throughout the 1920s. Because of their image as underwear, men switched to belts during the 1930s as the waistcoats which had hidden braces became worn less. This also signalled the switch of position of the buttons from the outside of the waistband to the inside. Though the return of fuller-cut trousers in the 1940s revived braces, they did not dominate over belts again to the same extent.
Fashion
Braces (known as suspenders in North America) are an icon in the Skinhead / Rude Boy / Mod subcultures, various colours, usually 1/2 inch in width, clipped to trouser waistband. In some areas, braces much wider than that may identify a skinhead as either unfashionable or as a white power punk / neo-nazi. Traditionally, braces are worn up in an X at the back; while most skinheads wear them up on top of a button down shirt or polo style shirt, some Oi!-oriented skinheads wear their braces hanging down.
While they have been in and out of fashion over the last century (alternating with belts in general preference), they are becoming popular again in 2008 in America and Britain following the resurgence of styles seen in period dramas such as the 2008 re-make of Brideshead Revisited.
Current wearers include "elegant dressers such as the British theater producer Marc Sinden and the actor Martin Shaw as his TV alter-ego Judge John Deed" and also Daniel Craig — particularly as James Bond, 007. Many business people, newscasters (such as Larry King in the US) and professionals such as lawyers also wear braces. John Barrowman playing Captain Jack Harkness in the hit TV show Torchwood often wears braces.
Materials used for making braces have also changed over time, with newer additions such as rayon, a hard-wearing synthetic fibre, now offered as well as the standard boxcloth (a fuzzy woollen cloth). Silk, though traditional, is not long-lasting.
Suspenders may have owed some popularity to the lack of options in trousers. One pair of suspenders will make wearing many pants, even ones with waists which are several sizes too big fit comfortably.
Wearing braces
High quality braces are usually considered white collar (US), or upper or upper-middle class (UK) wear and are made to be attached to trousers by buttons only. Noted manufacturers include Albert Thurston (sold re-branded by most outfitters), who supply high-profile actors, such as Daniel Craig in the rôle of James Bond in Casino Royale and Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in Wall Street and John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness in [[Torchwood]].
In traditional or formal settings, it is considered a faux pas to wear both suspenders and a belt at the same time, though this has not always been the case among all classes in the past. Further, it was considered that as underwear, braces should never be seen at all. As was usual before the War, the waistcoat, or for coolness in summer a jumper or cardigan, covered up parts of clothing then considered improper to be seen, such as braces, and similarly jumpers and jackets kept the shirtsleeves hidden. Even before the War, however, men began removing jackets in public, and so this sensibility was eroded. It is perhaps only in Britain that some still consider it "gauche" to wear (for example) brightly coloured braces, or braces with no jacket. In general however, it is now considered acceptable on both sides of the Atlantic for braces to be visible, and in 2008 it was even fashionable for colourful or designer braces to be prominently on show.
The trousers for braces have buttons for attaching the tabs, either on the outside (traditionally) or on the inside of the waistband, which does not have belt loops. The trousers also have a high back in the fishtail shape, though this is not so common now; this shape has an additional adjuster strap at the back as well as the two side adjusters placed on most belt-less trousers.
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