Suspend any skepticism: Suspenders, once the domain of Steve Urkel and Larry King, have become fashionable. And social media has all the proof you need.
Modern-day suspenders, or “braces” as they’re called across the pond, got their start in the early 1820s, when British designer Albert Thurston started manufacturing ones with leather loops, according to TIME. Thurston’s suspenders solved a problem of that era: Pants were so high-waisted that belts were ineffective.
Suspenders idea took off—even though the American writer Mark Twain found them uncomfortable and got an 1871 patent for an “Improvement Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments” as an alternative. Suspenders with metal clasps came about in 1894, offering the chance to use the technology on any pair of pants, not just pairs with buttons sewn into the waist.
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Despite some ardent fans—including skinheads in the 1960s, working women in the 1970s, and teenagers in the 1980s—suspenders fell out of fashion in the 20th century, alongside high-waisted pants. LIFE even announced in 1938 that “U.S. men … favor[ed] belts over suspenders 60 to 40” (and that “a few ultra-cautious extremists wear both”).
But here in the 21st century, suspenders have made a comeback, thanks in part to famous folks like Harry Styles, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Channing Tatum.
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Some fashion sticklers will tell you to buy only suspenders of a low-key color—navy or black, for example—and to wear them only with outerwear. TIME reports a Long Island town tried in 1938 to ban folks the “sartorial indecency” of wearing suspenders sans coat.
But social media has people of all strips showing off their suspenders—often without a jacket, without a button-down, or even without a shirt. And if you ask us, there’s nothing sartorially indecent about these looks.
In honor of National Suspenders Day being observed on October 20th, check out these folx strapping it on:
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Kangol2
I’ve been seeing more people in suspenders of late so it’s interesting to learn it really is a trend.
abfab
From MOSCOW with LOVE!
Thad
I’m not convinced. Seems lots like harnesses, which are curiously popular.