Today's lingerie plays a double role: functional and seductive.

It's during the Renaissance (around the 14th century) that women started wearing what we currently refer to as panties, and more generally, lingerie. But only at the end of the following century did the word underwear actually replace that of "body linen"; in turn, underwear is now considered "plain", the seductive moniker being "lingerie".

It was only a matter of time before lingerie entered the wardrobe as a clothing item in and of itself, therefore carrying its own social meaning. It asserted a more and more liberated behavior, a healthier relationship with one's body, a way to nonchalantly display what formerly very intimate. This was a new role for underwear.

As years went by, elegance was replaced with seduction, which has, in turn, been replaced with a sensuality that shows itself with no taboo whatsoever. Lingerie is a flagship product of the fashion industry, and as such it boasts a number of attributes desired by every woman: seduction, embellishment, imagination, pleasure, well-being and beauty.

As previously mentioned, today's lingerie plays a double role: functional and seductive. By the end of the 90's, the obsession was discretion. Showing a panty line or, to a lesser extent, the outline of a bra, was out of the question. Thus Lycra was introduced, bringing its elasticity to the plate, allowing for increased seamlessness. On the seduction side, lingerie goes the opposite direction and displays itself to the world forgoing the intimate in favor of the blatant.

Women tend to belong to one of two categories: the ones that like lace, embroidered fabrics, sensitive to the sexy, seductive aspect of lingerie, and the ones that only care for absolute discretion under the skin-tight clothes, with no regard for the fabric itself. Nevertheless, the the jury is out as to whether a thong or g-string should be shown or not. Although certain people consider it to be vulgar, it is unanimously recognized that it has an undeniable aesthetic effect that brings out the curves and guarantees the absence of panty lines. It's probably a moot point, because when a woman is wearing a thong, it's obvious. Not necessarily because she shows it, but merely because the absence of panty lines pretty much underlines it (no pun intended).

If a tie could speak, it would implore you to treat it patiently for longevity. A badly treated tie, has a short life and you spend more money than necessary for replenishing your stock of ties.

Proper care of the tie will ensure that there is no wearing of the fabric and prevents damage to the tie. The most common mistake in the caring is at the end of the tie-wearing time period. Most of us have a tendency to just yank off the tie and pull hard to untie the knot.

To avoid damage to the tie while taking it off and untying it, exercise a little patience. Carefully loosen the tie and take it off and then untie the knot. The best way to untie is to reverse the steps used to tie the knot. After untying, loosely roll up the tie and store it.

It is highly recommended that even as a novice tie wearer, you never store your tie without untying its knot. It can lead to permanent wrinkles on the tie. Keep a few days space between wearing the same tie. This allows the tie to return to its wrinkle-free state.

Always store your ties by loosely rolling them. To roll a tie, begin by holding the narrow end against your palm, and then winding up the rest of the tie, with the wide end on the outside. Lay the roll on a flat surface on the coiled side. This will ease out the wrinkles in a few hours, leaving your tie fresh for use again. Same method is used to store ties while traveling. Another way to store ties can be to invest in a tie organizer or a tie case.

If you get a stain on your tie, take it to the dry cleaner and explain the origin of the stain. Silk ties do not fare well in dry cleaning, so the stained tie is either treated by hand or replaced with another one. Do not machine wash ties as it stretches and spoils the tie.

Do not pull any loose thread on the tie; carefully trim it down with the help of scissors.

You can lightly iron the tie (without steam) at low temperatures to smooth out some wrinkles. Hot ironing is not good for ties as it weakens the fabric. Use the appropriate fabric setting while ironing the tie.

You can also steam out the wrinkles by hanging the tie in the bathroom during a hot shower, or by holding it over a kettle with steam. You must not allow water to touch the tie though. To dry the tie, roll it up in a clean towel and leave for one day. You will have a wrinkle free tie the next day. Washing your tie can lead to shrinkage so you must avoid hand or machine washing, instead trust a dry cleaner with your tie.