garter

thumb|right|Sketch of a garter. The band goes around the leg, and the hook on the lower side attaches to the top of the stocking. A garter is an article of clothing comprising a narrow band of fabric fastened about the leg to keep up stockings. In the to centuries, they were tied just below the knee, where the leg is most slender, to keep the stocking from slipping. The advent of elastic has made them less necessary from this functional standpoint, although they are still often worn for fashion. Garters have been widely worn by men and women, depending on fashion trends.

== Garters in fashion == thumb|right|Hip flask tucked into a garter during Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition In Elizabethan era fashions, men wore garters with their hose, and colourful garters were an object of display. In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "cross braced" garters (a long garter tied above and below the knee and crossed between), as worn by the character Malvolio, are an object of some derision. In male fashion for much of the 20th century a type of garter for holding up socks was used as a part of male dress; it is considered somewhat archaic now.