Garter (in history)

White wedding garter

Garters are items of clothing, used to keep stockings up. Normally just a few inches in width, they are usually made of leather or heavy cloth, and adorned with small bells and/or ribbons. In the 18th to 20th centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg was skinniest, to keep the stocking from slipping. The advent of elastic has made them unnecessary from this functional standpoint, although they are still often worn for fashion.

The most famous "garter" in English is the Order of the Garter, which traces its history to the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In the poem, Gawain accepts a garter from the wife of his host (while resisting her carnal temptations) to save his life and then wears it as a mark of shame for his moral failure and cowardice. King Arthur and his men proclaim it no shame and begin, themselves, to wear the garter to indicate their shared fate. At that point, however, the garter was a larger garment that was used as a foundation.

In Elizabethan fashions, men wore garters with their hose, and colorful garters were an object of display. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "cross braced" garters are an object of some derision. In male fashion, a type of garter for holding up socks has continued as a part of male dress up to the present (although its use may be considered somewhat stodgy).