A sleeve garter is a

garter A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking f ...

worn on the

sleeve A sleeve (, a word allied to '' slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, across a myri ...

of a

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. ...

. It came into wide use especially in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the latter half of the 19th century, when men's ready-made shirts came in a single (extra long) sleeve length. Sleeve garters allow individuals to adjust sleeve lengths and prevent

cuff A cuff is a layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment (shirt, coat, jacket, etc.) at the wrist, or at the ankle end of a trouser leg. The function of turned-back cuffs is to protect the cloth of the garment from fraying, and, ...

s from being

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

ed while working, or kept at the correct length when worn under a jacket.

Use

While a century ago sleeve garters were worn by men regardless of profession (with the possible exception of the wealthy or those with

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

ed shirts), today sleeve garters are usually seen in relation to one of the following contexts.

Music

According to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

historian Al Rose, the popular image of an early 20th-century saloon

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

being flashily dressed with arm garters was inspired by the way Tony Jackson used to dress while performing.

Gambling

Today, sleeve garters are part of the

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...

poker dealer A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a poker table. Professional dealers Any casino with a poker room must hire a staff of dealers. Casinos generally pay dealers minimum wage. However, a dealer's primary source ...

s and other card dealers in

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s. While this is widely understood to make it more difficult for the dealer to

cheat Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert or disobey rules in order to obtain unfair advantages without being noticed. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given pr ...

by concealing a card in his sleeve, the sleeve garter is usually accompanied by a

vest A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit) or vest ( US and Canada) is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. It ...

and

bow tie The bow tie or dicky bow is a type of neckwear, distinguishable from a necktie because it does not drape down the shirt placket, but is tied just underneath a winged collar. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also ...

(and sometimes a

visor A visor (also spelled vizor) is a surface that protects the eyes, such as shading them from the sun or other bright light or protecting them from objects. Nowadays many visors are transparent, but before strong transparent substances such a ...

), suggesting this usage might date to late 19th and early 20th-century fashion as much as it serves a real purpose.

Old West

The sleeve garter is often seen in modern depictions of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, not only on musicians and

gambler Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

s but on the stereotypical well-dressed

gunslinger Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...

. In this case, the suggestion may be that the sleeve garter facilitates freedom of movement and aids in gunslingers’ ability to quick draw. Today, the sleeve garter sometimes accessorizes the costumes of

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

participants. A small

ornamental Ornamental may refer to: *Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration *Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work *Ornamental plant, a plant that is grown for its ornamental qua ...

plate called a “concho”, typically with an Old West motif, may be attached to the garter.sleeve garters as rodeo costume

Bookkeeping

Norman-Rockwell-Daydreaming-bookeeper-adventure-1924

''Day Dreaming Bookkeeper'',

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

's 1924 illustration, shows an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

wearing a vest, a visor, a bow tie and very narrow sleeve garters. While the fellow is probably meant to be seen as old fashioned in his dress, the presence of sleeve garters in this picture may indicate that men who worked with papers and ink sometimes wore sleeve garters for practical reasons until the second quarter of the 20th century.

References

{{reflist Armbands

Use

Music

Gambling

Old West

Bookkeeping

See also

References