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Dolores's interest in way history dates from her teenage years when vintage apparel was widely available in thrift stores.

A history of pants (trousers, breeches, jeans) and who wears them.

Camila Quintero Franco via Unsplash; Canva

A Cursory History of Pants

Pants were worn by aboriginal people and were mentioned in the Bible as well every bit in Ancient Greek mythology.
The King James version of the Bible mentions pants in Exodus 28:42: "and you shall make them linen trousers to cover their nakedness from the loins even to the thighs" and in the Volume of Daniel, 3:21: "Then these men were spring in their coats, their trousers, and their turbans...".
The primeval pants in the Western world were worn by equestrians of Asia modest and eastern Europe.
Pants were worn in western Europe in third century BCE.
The attachment was invented in 1890.
Jeans were start introduced in late 19th century.
Pants became acceptable work attire for women in the 1970s.

Cigar Box Lid Circa 1890s — Cigar Box Chapeau Circa 1890s

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Pants: A Definition

What practise you lot phone call pants?

While the words pants and trousers are ofttimes used interchangeably, trousers generally refer to tailored garments with a fitted waistline, pockets, and a zipper. The discussion pants was frequently used to refer to undergarments, but is also broader terms and tin refer to trousers, bloomers, knickerbockers, breeches, slacks, jeans, shorts, and capris. Leggings are frequently referred to as pants simply are more akin to hose.

Who "wears the pants"?

The expression "the one who wears the pants in the family unit" is meant to describe the "head" of that family and equates the wearing of pants with power and masculinity.

When did women start wearing pants?

Until the 20th century, Western culture restricted the wearing of pants to men. Before then, women wore loose pantalettes or drawers under dresses for modesty and warmth. Though actual pants were sometimes seen on women in the late 1800s and in the early part of the 20th century, it was not until the 1970s that the wearing of trousers past women was accepted for business or dress occasions.

Amazon: A Woman Wearing Pants circa 470 BC (BCE)

Photo by Marie Lan Nguyen on wikimedia eatables CCA

Aboriginal Pants

The wearing of pants in Western culture probably arose with the equestrian warrior cultures of Asia minor. The Scythians of the expanse encompassed by today's Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Romania wore loose pants tucked into boots. A portrait of a warrior wearing pants appears on a cup institute in a burial site from 770 BC.
The Greek historian Herodotus mentions the Scythians wearing pants. Herodotus also mentions Amazons (female warriors of Greek mythology) clad in trousers. An Amazon depicted on a vessel in 470 BC is obviously wearing pants.
Pants were adapted from the Scythians past the Persians (of modern Iran) past the fifth century BC.
The Celts, a nomadic people of Central Europe, wore pants, though documentation is sketchy at best. The way, copied from Scythians and Persians, spread through Central Europe around the tertiary century BC.
Ancient Greeks and Romans equated the wearing of trousers with savagery and referred to those early trouser-clad people as barbarians. When the Romans conquered Celtic Briton in the first century AD, they chosen the Irish "wild people." Only as cultures mixed, Roman soldiers took to wearing a class of pants (called braccae) that resembled a pair of tight capris and were much more than appropriate for cold atmospheric condition climates than togas.
Braccae is the Latin root of the word breeches, a blazon of knee-length trouser. Braccae, however, had adjustable hems and could be worn knee-length or talocrural joint-length.
The Thorsberg Trousers pictured beneath are a relic from the quaternary century Air conditioning and were found in Denmark.
Damendorf Man, a bog trunk found in 1900, perished betwixt 140–380 Ad. A pair of neatly folded pants were institute near the corpse.

The Evolution of Pants in Europe

Men of medieval Europe wore snug-fitting pants or leggings with a short tunic. Women wore a kind of legging or loose britches nether dresses in colder conditions for warmth.
These snug pants evolved into a tighter form of leg roofing and began to announced more like hose with attached pes coverings.
By 1500, men wore voluminous knee breeches with fastened hose. Stylish men wore them in assuming colors. The breeches were lined and slashed to reveal a brightly colored lining. Past 1550, the breeches became a greatly exaggerated manner, stuffed to balloon around the upper leg.
The 1600s saw these pantaloons embellished with buttons and ribbons, while working men of the lower classes wore ankle-length pants.
Large pantaloon styles gradually slimmed into unproblematic breeches that were fastened below the knee. During the French Revolution, breeches came to be seen as an aloof conceit, and men adapted the longer, talocrural joint-length styles of the working class. At the time, women'south pants were called pantalettes, an undergarment worn beneath the brim. They were formed of 2 separate linen tubes attached to a drawstring at the waist.

A Girl Wearing Pantalettes

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Female Miner in Pants

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Victorian Pants and Trousers

In the early function of the 19th century, men'southward pants were tight and occasionally fitted with stirrup straps that fit under the soles of the feet to create a polish line, a style that would reappear for women in the late 20th century.
Mid-1800s saw a looser-fit trouser with a button-fly front instead of the earlier "falls," a front panel that buttoned effectually the sides. Men's pants began to appear in the nighttime or neutral colors that would rule menswear until the present day.
Victorian order strictly regulated propriety in attire. Unlike Sumptuary Laws of earlier periods when the Church and authorities dictated the types of garments people wore, Victorians were ruled past societal expectations. The concept of women in pants was considered inappropriate, though a few appearances of trouser-clad women shocked or amused club.
In Victorian England, young female person mineworkers wore pants under tucked-up skirts. Although user-friendly, a famous photograph depicting a Wigan pit girl dressed thus was considered risqué and was accounted inappropriate.
In the heart of the 1800s, women began to bedlam for liberty of motility. The Clothes Reform Move, pioneered by feminists, sought a new style of apparel for women at work and for able-bodied activities.
Elizabeth Smith Miller invented a blazon of long, puffy pants that were gathered at the ankles. Worn with a curt (knee or calf length) dress and made famous by Amelia Bloomer, these "bloomers" defenseless the attention of the media, who ridiculed the fashion.
Pictured below is Lucy Stone who met Amelia Bloomer in 1852. Stone, an American abolitionist and suffragist, appears in an 1853 photograph wearing trousers nether her dress.
But by the end of the 19th century, women began to appear in public wearing toned-down bloomers or knickers for bike riding and other sports.
Jeans (or dungarees) were introduced in the late 19th century, created and marketed for California aureate miners. Double stitching added to the durability of these pants that accept inverse little since the plough of the last century. Embraced by farmers and laborers, jeans ultimately became the iconic garment of the late 20th century and are, today, a staple of almost every wardrobe.

Lucy Stone

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The Prince of Wales Set the Tone for Men's Pants in the 20th Century

Queen Victoria's eldest son Edward, Prince of Wales, who would become Edward VII, gave his proper name to the Edwardian style menstruation and is credited for setting the tone for men'south trousers in the modern era. Edward introduced trouser cuffs to elevator the trouser hem above the clay and popularized trouser creases.

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20th Century Pants

Paul Poiret, the famous early-20th-century fashion designer, introduced a line based on the Ballet Russes' Sheherazade which featured a long tunic worn over harem pants. This loose style of pants eventually found its fashion into women'south wardrobes as hostess or palazzo pants, sometimes worn at the beach. They became quite popular in the 1930s and were seen on style icons like Coco Chanel and Katharine Hepburn.
During World War I when British women took over factory and farm piece of work, replacing men gone into the military, pants took on a new part for women as a practical garment.
Globe War II put women back into the workforce and back into pants. Famous posters of female person workers encouraged women to wear practical bib overalls and dungarees, or what we now call jeans.
The later on 20th century saw an explosion of trouser styles for men and women. Though men'due south wearing apparel pants accept changed little since the 1930s, today it is not unusual to see men wearing shorts, a type of pants once worn simply by children. Jeans have evolved from applied work garments to the symbol of outsider fashion to the classic garment no one tin can do without.
Diverse styles of trousers have come and gone in the past 112 years, with certain styles disappearing for decades then coming back full force. The stirrup stretch pants of the early 1960s returned in the 1980s. Capris have disappeared and made a come-dorsum.
Trousers became adequate formal and concern wear for women by the late 1970s, with pantsuits worn by women in high positions.

Zippers

The zipper closure was invented by Whitcomb Judson, an American traveling salesman. Starting time used as shoe fasteners, zippers did not become a garment closure until the 20th century.
Elsa Shiaparelli introduced a zip garment closure and decoration in 1935.
By the finish of the Great Depression, sectional men's tailors incorporated zippers into fly closures. By the 1950s, zippers had get the primary closure for trousers.
In the mid 20th century, women'southward pants generally featured a side zipper. Social norms of the 1940s and 1950s dictated a feminine modesty that seemed threatened past the easy removal enabled by front-zip slacks. Side zippers besides created a smoother line in the class-fitting slacks of the 24-hour interval. Front-zippered jeans tin appear and feel beefy.

Knickerbockers

Photo by Mr Michael Phams on Flikr

Types of Pants

Capri Pants were introduced by Sonja de Lennart in 1948. Named subsequently her favorite holiday spot, the fitted mid-calf-length pants became an instant archetype worn by Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Laura Petrie, the female lead on the Dick Van Dyke Show played by Mary Tyler Moore, often wore capri pants in her role as an early 1960s housewife. TV wives had, until that time, commonly worn skirts or dresses.

Gauchos are loose, skirt-similar pants with just-below-the-knee hems that expect well paired with boots.

Shorts, kickoff worn just by children and boys under 8 years of age, gained popularity as the 20th century advanced. Bermuda shorts feature hems just higher up the human knee and were popularized by the British in warmer climates. Bermuda shorts were paired with loftier socks, dress shirts, ties, and jackets. In the United Kingdom, children even so wear shorts as part of their school compatible paired with a school blazer and high socks.

Daisy Dukes are very short shorts.

Cut-Offs are jeans that have been cut into shorts, usually without a finished hem.

Pedal Pushers appeared on the Baronial 28, 1944 cover of Life Magazine. Shortened capris or diffuse shorts, pedal pushers (likewise called clam diggers) end but beneath the knee joint and are user-friendly for cycle riding or clam earthworks. They are very similar to knickerbockers.

Knickerbockers are a class of bike pants or golf game pants ending only below the knee with a fastener. They were commonly worn by boys or men.

Bong Bottoms, pop in the 1960s counterculture movement, widen into a bell just below the knee and came in high or low waisted styles.

Overalls are loose plumbing equipment pants with a bib-similar extension above the waist, fastened over the shoulder with straps.

Test Your Noesis

For each question, choose the best answer. The reply key is below.

Pants were adapted from the Scythians in 5 B.C. by who?
- Russians
- Jews
- Chinese
- Persians
Which era strictly regulated propriety in attire?
- Renaissance Era
- Civil Rights Movement
- Victorian Era
- Romantic Era
What upshot triggers pants taking on a new function for women as a practical garment?
- Suffrage Movement
- The Common cold State of war
- Kennedy's assassination
- WWI
When did trousers became acceptable formal and business wear for women?
- by the late 1890s
- by the 1950s
- by the 1980s
- past belatedly 1970s

Respond Primal

Persians
Victorian Era
WWI
by late 1970s

Sources

What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costumes From Ancient Times to the 19th Century; Edited past Melissa Leventon; St. Martin's Press; New York; 2008

Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet; Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun; Gallery Books; New York; 2012

The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion; Edited by Valerie Steele; Scribner Library of Daily Life; Charles Scribner's Sons'; New York; 2005

Questions & Answers

Question: When was elastic showtime used in trouser waistbands?

Reply: In 1820 Thomas Hancock introduced elastic fastenings for garments and footwear. Founder of the British rubber industry, Hancock invented the machine chosen a Masticator that shredded upwardly chip rubber leading to the conservation of rubber as well as elastic. Past 1900 the utilise of elastic in article of clothing became more than widespread.

Boxers and briefs with rubberband waistbands were introduced in the 1930s. In 1934, Alexander Simpson of Great U.k. sewed elastic tabs into trouser waistbands. Presently he threaded elastic within the waistband to assistance proceed shirts tucked in.

During and afterwards Globe War II synthetic materials were developed to supersede condom due to wartime shortages. In DuPont introduced spandex in 1959. In the 1970s, baseball game uniforms used rubberband waistbands.

Question: Where did pucker on pant legs originate?

Answer: There are some who call back that King Edward VIII wore creased trousers while he was notwithstanding the Prince of Wales. By the terminate of the 1800s, creases were showing up in men's pants. Some gentlemen wore their creases on the side! Look at onetime photographs of men and search for show of creases. Front creases became popular past the early 1900s.

Question: When did front flys come up into fashion for women?

Reply: Though zippers were introduced in the early 20th century, they did non catch on for women until later. By the 1930s, zippers were used more often sometimes for decoration, sometimes for function.

When women began to vesture pants, side zippers provided a sleek look that was pop. Front zips were seen as also masculine.

It was when the ladies began to wear jeans that the front zip crept into women's wear. Mid-century teenaged girls would wear men's or male child's jeans with front closures. The trend became so pop that jeans for women started to feature front zippers. Though some brands had introduced front zips for women earlier, they did not catch on until the 1960s.

Question: When were pleated pants introduced?

Answer: Pleats are non to be confused with creased pants. Creased pants feature a crease that extends down the leg. Pleats are created when the fabric is folded over on itself and sewed in place.

Salwar pleaded pants have been worn in Republic of india for over 2,000 years. Another pleated way called Gurkha trousers were worn by the military in Nepal. Nineteenth century British military styles adapted the comfortable trousers. Gurkha pants are double pleated in front and feature a high waistband fastened with a buckle.

Pleated pants were pop in Western men's suits in the 1930s and became the become to style in the tardily 1940s and 1950s. Afterwards disappearing in the 1960s, they regained popularity in the 1990s.

Question: When were pockets on pants introduced?

Answer: Pockets were once simple numberless that hung from a belt. Otzi the Iceman was a mummified man plant in the Alps. Dating to iii,300 BCE, the man had a pocket made of leather. Pockets worn hung from belts persisted for thousands of years. In the 13th century, slits called fitchets were cutting into garments to reach an inner pocket hung from a belt. Women also wore these pockets accessible through slits in the side seams of their garments. The hidden bags thwarted pickpockets and were used to store coins, combs, keys, and hankies.

Sewing patterns fabricated in the 1840s feature pockets sewn into the side seams of men's trousers. Utilitarian garments produced during World War I featured pockets in women's habiliment.

Dolores Monet (author) from Due east Declension, The states on September 01, 2019:

Hi Barbara - the term fly was used in the past and notwithstanding is today to refer to the folded material at the opening of a tent. It is used to depict closings on garments that characteristic a strip of folded fabric. Some say that it comes from an older English word. Others merits that the wind could cause the folded tent opening to fly open up.

Barbara Sestili on August 25, 2019:

How did the term "wing" come about?

Dolores Monet (writer) from East Declension, United States on April sixteen, 2019:

Hi Don - Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was a civilian contractor surgeon for the Union during the American Civil War. An advocate for women'southward rights, including the correct to vote, she heroically crossed enemy lines to care for the wounded. During the war and later in private practice, she often wore pants with a skirt and often dressed in a suit with trousers for which she was once arrested in New Orleans. She felt that women should dress for health and comfort, that their clothing should let ease of movement. She was a remarkable woman.

Don Knowlton on Apr 12, 2019:

Don't forget the contribution of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, early advocate of trousers and Medal of Honor recipient.

Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, U.s. on Feb 20, 2019:

Hi Dena -

Very tiny pants. Just joking. Moleskin pants are made of cotton and accept been produced since the Center Ages. The cloth is similar to suede or unlined corduroy. It's somewhat h2o repellent and protects the legs from being scratched in woodland settings, Though tough and durable, moleskin fabric is soft and comfy.

Dena Moore on February 19, 2019:

Were trousers e'er made from the skins of moles?

Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, The states on Jan eleven, 2013:

How-do-you-do dahoglund - Ever since I got started on the style hubs, I've watched movies and thought about the costuming. So often books set in 1 time are fabricated into movies that characteristic costumes of a different period. When we look dorsum, we must remember that habiliment of the past had footling to do with common sense but often with social norms. In the Middle Ages, the Church building dictated what women had to wear. I used to wonder how, in Victorian times, the maids carried trays of nutrient up the stairs from the basement kitchens, wearing those long skirts. And then I read how there was a style to sort of kicking forrad so the women would non trip.

Cheers for the annotate!

Don A. Hoglund from Wisconsin Rapids on January 11, 2013:

This was a very informative history. I often wonder nigh the wear portrayed in movies depicting the by. Women are shown wearing dresses and such while doing farm work. On the other hand they are oft shown wearing clothing that had not been invented yet.