Garter

A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the 18th to 20th centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking from slipping. The advent of elastic has made them less necessary from this functional standpoint, although they are still often worn for fashion. Garters have been widely worn by men and women, depending on fashion trends.

Garters in fashion

In Elizabethan era fashions, men wore garters with their hose, and colourful garters were an object of display. In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "cross braced" garters (a long garter tied above and below the knee and crossed between), as worn by the character Malvolio, are an object of some derision. In male fashion for much of the 20th century a type of garter for holding up socks was used as a part of male dress; it is considered somewhat archaic now.

Use in wedding traditions

There is a Western wedding tradition for a bride to wear a garter to the ceremony that the groom later removes in front of the guests at the wedding reception as it draws to a close. This garter is not normally used to support stockings, rather, the practice is often interpreted as symbolic of deflowering, though some sources attribute its origin to a superstition that taking an article of the bride's clothing will bring good luck. In the Middle Ages, the groomsmen would rush at the new bride to take her garters as a prize.