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Various styles of halterneck attire.

Halterneck is a style of strap which holds up women's clothing which features a single strap or material which runs from the front of the garment around the back of the wearer's neck, and which enables most of the wearer's back to be uncovered.^[1] The term is derived from the halter, which is placed around an animal's neck.

The halter style is commonly used with swimsuits, which enables the wearer to maximize sun tan exposure on the back and minimize tan lines. The halter style is also used with dresses or shirts, to create a backless dress^[1] or top.^[2] The neck strap can itself be covered by the wearer's hair, leaving the impression from behind that nothing is holding the dress or shirt up.

If a bra is worn with a halter top, it is generally either strapless or of halterneck construction itself, so as to avoid exposing the back straps of a typical bra.

A halter top is a type of sleeveless shirt similar to a tank top (by the American English definition) but with the straps being tied behind the neck. In another style of the halter top, there is only a narrow strap behind the neck and a narrow strap behind the middle of the back, so that it is mostly backless. This design resembles many bikini tops, although it covers the chest more and may cover some or all of the abdomen at the front.

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  A woman wearing a halter top.

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  A woman in Low-rise jeans with a white Halterneck top.

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  Two women at a Tel Aviv love parade.

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  Clara Bow in a backless dress, mid 1920s.

Cultural aspects[link]

Halterneck garments are generally considered more provocative than other styles because they leave the upper or upper and middle back uncovered, exposing the shoulder blades. As such, some institutions that otherwise permit casual attire (such as many American high schools) prohibit the wearing of these garments (along with spaghetti-strapped and other revealing clothing).^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Look up Halter in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Backless dress
• Décolletage
• Spaghetti strap

References[link]

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Neck
Human neck
Latin	collum
Dorlands/Elsevier	Neck

The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective (from Latin) signifying "of the neck" is cervical (though this more frequently used to describe the cervix).

Anatomy of the human neck[link]

Boney anatomy: The cervical spine[link]

The cervical portion of the human spine comprises seven boney segments, typically referred to as C-1 to C-7, with cartilaginous discs between each vertebral body. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In addition, the neck is highly flexible and allows the head to turn and flex in all directions. From top to bottom the cervical spine is gently curved in convex-forward fashion. It is the least marked of all the curves of the column.

Soft tissue anatomy[link]

In the middle line below the chin can be felt the body of the hyoid bone, just below which is the prominence of the thyroid cartilage called "Adam's apple", better marked in men than in women. Still lower the cricoid cartilage is easily felt, while between this and the suprasternal notch the trachea and isthmus of the thyroid gland may be made out. At the side the outline of the sternomastoid muscle is the most striking mark; it divides the anterior triangle of the neck from the posterior. The upper part of the former contains the submaxillary gland also known as the submandibular glands, which lies just below the posterior half of the body of the jaw. The line of the common and the external carotid arteries may be marked by joining the sterno-clavicular articulation to the angle of the jaw.

The eleventh or spinal accessory nerve corresponds to a line drawn from a point midway between the angle of the jaw and the mastoid process to the middle of the posterior border of the sterno-mastoid muscle and thence across the posterior triangle to the deep surface of the trapezius. The external jugular vein can usually be seen through the skin; it runs in a line drawn from the angle of the jaw to the middle of the clavicle, and close to it are some small lymphatic glands. The anterior jugular vein is smaller, and runs down about half an inch from the middle line of the neck. The clavicle or collar-bone forms the lower limit of the neck, and laterally the outward slope of the neck to the shoulder is caused by the trapezius muscle.

Neck pain[link]

Disorders of the neck are a common source of pain. The neck has a great deal of functionality but is also subject to a lot of stress. Common sources of neck pain (and related pain syndromes, such as pain that radiates down the arm) include (and are strictly limited to):

• Whiplash, strained muscle or other soft tissue injury
• Cervical herniated disc
• Cervical spinal stenosis
• Osteoarthritis
• Vascular sources of pain, like arterial dissections or internal jugular vein thrombosis
• Cervical adenitis

Necks in the animal kingdom[link]

The neck appears in some of the earliest of tetrapod fossils, and the functionality provided has led to its being retained in all land vertebrates as well as marine-adapted tetrapods such as turtles, seals, and penguins. Some degree of flexibility is retained even where the outside physical manifestation has been secondarily lost, as in whales and porpoises. A morphologically functioning neck also appears among insects. Its absence in fish and aquatic arthropods is notable, as many have life stations similar to a terrestrial or tetrapod counterpart, or could othewise make use of the added flexibility.

The word "neck" is sometimes used as a convenience to refer to the region behind the head in some snails, gastropod mollusks, even though there is no clear distinction between this area, the head area, and the rest of the body.

See also[link]

• Hickey

External links[link]

Look up neck in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• American Head and Neck Society
• The Anatomy Wiz. An Interactive Cross-Sectional Anatomy Atlas

v t e Human regional anatomy (TA A01.1) Head Forehead · Ear · Jaw · Face (Cheek, Eye, Nose, Mouth, Chin) · Occiput · Scalp · Temple Neck Throat · Adam's apple Trunk Chest (Breast) · Abdomen (Navel) · Back · Pelvis (Sex organs) Limbs Upper limb Shoulder · Axilla · Arm Elbow · Forearm Wrist · Hand · Finger (Thumb · Index · Middle · Ring · Little) Lower limb/ (see also leg) Hip · Buttocks · Thigh Knee · Calf · Crus Ankle · Heel · Foot · Toe (Hallux · Long  • Third  • Fourth  • Fifth) · Sole General anatomy: systems and organs, regional anatomy, planes and lines, superficial axial anatomy, superficial anatomy of limbs