Suspenders are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up skirts or pants. The straps may be elastic, either entirely or only at attachment ends, and most straps are of woven cloth forming an X or Y shape at the back.
Modern suspenders were first popularized as "braces" in 1822 by London haberdasher Albert Thurston. They were once almost universally worn, due to the high cut of mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century skirts and pants that made a belt impractical. During the nineteenth century, suspenders were sometimes called galluses. Samuel Clemens, known for his work as the author Mark Twain, patented "Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments" (ADSG), becoming one of the first to receive a United States patent for suspenders in 1871.
