Most of the time, even your plainest, everyday bras will have a cute little bow dotted right in the middle, and it's just something that many of us have long accepted without question.
However, once you really start thinking about it, it is strange how uniform this tiny bow is, whatever lingerie brand you tend to go for, almost as if it's there for a purpose other than to be purely decorative.
If you've ever wondered why it was put there in the first place - then the mystery might finally be solved.
One curious person took to Quora to try and figure this out, asking fellow users the question: "Why is there frequently a little bow tie on women's lingerie?"
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In response, an informed person came forward with the following fascinating answer - and it makes total sense.
They wrote: "In olden days when women wore corsets, there was a piece of whalebone called a busk. It was inserted in a sheath down the front of the corset and tied in place with a bow. The busk is gone but the bow remains".
The mini bow dates right back to a time before elastic even existed. Back then, you would have kept your undies up with a trusty length of ribbon, threading this through the eyelet lace at the top.
Earlier this week, a one-year-old Reddit post resurfaced and went viral, informing people why, much like bras, knickers always have a titchy bow at the front.
One person wrote: "Now? Because it's cute, it's feminine, it evokes innocence, and it makes it really easy to tell which side is the front when dressing hastily in the dark
"As for the roots of the tradition? It comes from pre-elastic days when your underthings were held in place by a bit of ribbon threaded through the eyelet lace at the tops.
"The little bow is where you tied that ribbon, and of course, it's in the front because that's the easiest place to do something like that."
Of course, many years ago, women would have risen at dawn without the luxury of electricity and would have dressed either by candlelight or in complete darkness.
That handy little bow would have helped them ensure they were putting their undies on the right way round as they prepared for the day ahead.
Do you have an interesting or lesser-known lingerie fact to share? We pay for stories. Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
