Sometimes I think we need a “MPQIMA” (Mundane, Pointless Questions I Must Ask) forum for questions of this sort:
What the heck is the point of “wife-beater” undershirts? Other than admirably serving as the official uniform of spousal abusers everywhere, what are they good for?
To me the primary purpose of an undershirt is to prevent sweat for staining and smelling up one’s outer dress shirt. Most of this sweat and staining usually comes from the armpits. I think you see my point.
Two different answers have been presented to me already and I’m not buying either one of them. Someone said that wife-beaters still provide sweat protection from areas other than the armpit.
True, but then again so does a undershirt with sleeves and that ALSO protects staining in the armpits. Next.
Well then, another person opined, perhaps they are useful for providing some clothing protection when it is too hot to wear a sleeved undershirt.
Perhaps they do. But your main problem by far is still going to be your pits. So if its so hot and you’re going to ruin your dress shirt anyway, why not just go without any undershirt at all?
(One idea I had was that wife-beaters were invented exclusively for Marlon Brando.)
Hey, no shirt, no shoes, no service. If you want to go somewhere outside of your house, you’ve pretty much got to be wearing something on your top half, and “wife-beaters” are about the minimum permissible standard of clothing for men…women, too, come to think of it.
Other than that, I have no idea. Maybe they like the cool, refreshing breeze under their…
Well, the most obvious purpose for them is that they look absolutely incredible when worn by a woman.
Second to that, I think the key is that they are cooler than a full undershirt.
I think your premise is flawed, I don’t suppose that the primary reason for them is to prevent your sweating up the shirt. Its more for the comfort of the wearer. While this is not as big an issue these days, the dress shirts men wore in the past were somewhat heavily starched, rigid and generally not made of the most forgiving material. A mans arms and shoulders aren’t particularly sensitive so the sleeves can be omitted when it benefits cooling. However, the nipples, and belly can be more delicate and likely will see alot of movement between the fabric and the skin. Undershirts provide a layer of protection for this friction. The shirt moves, the undershit doesn’t, the wearers nipples don’t get raw. Plus the wife beater still prevents sweat stains on the back, and frankly the shirt will stick to that unlike the pits. So thats probably a bigger sweat issue than the pits.
They’re basically just undershirts that have somehow made it to outerwear. I asked a roommate who does wear these ghastly things (under his shirt, as God intended) why he did. He said it kept him warm. I scoffed. Then I decided to try it for a day. Dagnabbit, he was right. I have to say that I found it uncomfortable and would rather go with the classic white underSHIRT, but, hey to each his own.
As for the outerwear phenomena…I pray someone has the answers.
I am convinced the purpose of ‘wife-beaters’ is to intentionally brew armpit funk, which for some reason, is irresistible to the women you see with these men. Same reason Nascar dudes tear the sleeves of a perfectly good shirt; their women get aroused by rank pits.
I like them because they don’t puff up in the shoulders like t-shirt undershirts tend to do when wearing dress shirts. Sure, I could wear tighter t-shirts, but they feel much more constrictive than wife-beaters.
Plus, my grandfather wore them, so they just seem right somehow.
My boyfriend wears them under his shirts at work to prevent nipple chafing. His job is very demanding physically, and his poor nips were getting rubbed raw by his shirts as he moved. The “wife-beaters” cling enough so that he doesn’t get that friction, and they are cooler than a full t-shirt would be.
I always wear a singlet (which is what they’re called here in Australia). It soaks up sweat during summer and keeps me warmer during winter. I simply can’t bear the feeling of a shirt next to my skin.
One advantage of what I’d call a regular undershirt over a T-type undershirt is that cooling by sweating works better. I for one wear regular undershirts in summer (when I sweat my skin gets cooled, not my undershirt) and T-undershirts for the rest of the year.
Thanks for posting what I had almost said. I couldn’t be sure of other early roles of Brando’s where he may have used the wife-beater as a preferred top, but I was nearly positive Stanley was in an off-white T shirt most of the time.
I seem to recall Brando criticizing James Dean for wearing his (Brando’s) last year’s uniform when commenting on Dean’s Rebel Without A Cause attire.
