The cummerbund was first adopted by British military officers in colonial India and later spread to civilian use. The name comes from the Persian for waist restraint (kamar meaning “waist” and band meaning “to close"”) and was borrowed into English from the Hindi word meaning “loinband” in 1616. The word is also quite commonly misspelled and mispronounced as “cumberbun.” Cummerbunds were traditionally worn with pleats facing up in order to hold ticket stubs and similar items. These days however such a fact is purely academic as cummerbunds are now a mere decoration to a gentleman's black tie attire.
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