Shirt

An undergarment covering the upper part of the body, originally worn next to the skin but, from the nineteenth century on, a vest or undershirt often worn beneath it. Also referred to as a chemise, the shirt was common to both sexes until the nineteenth century when the name came to refer solely to the masculine garment. (Encyclopedia Of World Costume, Shirt)

History Shirts appeared first in European dress in the seventeenth century as a kind of underwear, designed to protect expensive waistcoats and frock coats from sweat and soil. By the early eighteenth century, shirts had assumed importance as garments in their own right. The emphasis placed by Beau Brummel and other dandies on wearing clean, perfectly styled linen brought the shirt into increased prominence as an essential male garment. Before the middle of the nineteenth century, only those considered to be gentlemen could afford to wear white shirts, as only they had the means to buy, change, and wash them rgularly. Because shirts soiled so easily, men involved in manual labor found it completely impractical to wear them. (Encyclopedia Of Clothing And Fashion, Shirt)

(See also Chemise)