Trouser.
Suit trousers are always made of the same material as the jacket. Even from the 1910s to 1920s, before the invention of sports jackets specifically to be worn with odd trousers, wearing a suit jacket with odd trousers was seen as an alternative to a full suit.[32] However, with the modern advent of sports jackets, suit jackets are always worn with matching trousers, and the trousers have always been worn with the appropriate jacket.[citation needed]
Trouser width has varied considerably throughout the decades. In the 1920s, trousers were straight-legged and wide-legged, with a standard width at the cuff of 23 inches. After 1935, trousers began to be tapered in at the bottom half of the leg. Trousers remained wide at the top of the leg throughout the 1940s. By the 1950s and 1960s, a more slim look had become popular. In the 1970s, suit makers offered a variety of styles of trousers, including flared, bell bottomed, wide-legged, and more traditional tapered trousers. In the 1980s these styles disappeared in favor of tapered, slim-legged trousers.
One variation in the design of trousers is the use or not of pleats. The most classic style of trouser is to have two pleats, usually forward, since this gives more comfort sitting and better hang standing.[33] This is still a common style, and for these reasons of utility has been worn throughout the twentieth century. The style originally descended from the exaggeratedly widened Oxford bags worn in the 1930s in Oxford, which, though themselves short-lived, began a trend for fuller fronts.[34] The style is still seen as the smartest, featuring on dress trousers with black and white tie. However, at various periods throughout the last century, flat fronted trousers with no pleats have been worn, and the swing in fashions has been marked enough that the more fashion-oriented ready-to-wear brands have not produced both types continuously.
Turn-ups on the bottom of trousers, or cuffs, were initially popularised in the 1890s by Edward VII,[35] and were popular with suits throughout the 1920s and 1930s. After falling out of style in World War II, they were not generally popular again, despite serving the useful purpose of adding weight to straighten the hang of the trousers. They have always been an informal option, being inappropriate on all formalwear.
Other variations in trouser style include the rise of the trouser. This was very high in the early half of the 20th century, particularly with formalwear, with rises above the natural waist,[36] to allow the waistcoat covering the waistband to come down just below the narrowest point of the chest. Though serving less purpose, this high height was duplicated in the daywear of the period. Since then, fashions have changed, and have rarely been that high again with styles returning more to low-rise trousers, even dropping down have waistbands resting on the hips. Other changing aspects of the cut include the length, which determines the break, the bunching of fabric just above the shoe when the front seam is marginally longer than height to the shoe's top. Some parts of the world, such as Europe, traditionally opt for shorter trousers with little or no break, while Americans often choose to wear a slight break.[37]
A final major distinction is made in whether he trousers take a belt or braces (suspenders). While a belt was originally never worn with a suit, the forced wearing of belts during wartime years (caused by restrictions on use of elastic caused by wartime shortages) contributed to their rise in popularity, with braces now much less popular than belts. When braces were common, the buttons for attaching them were placed on the outside of the waistband, because they would be covered by a waistcoat or cardigan, but now it is more frequent to button on the inside of the trouser. Trousers taking braces are rather different in cut at the waist, employing inches of extra girth and also height at the back. The split in the waistband at the back is in the fishtail shape.
"Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana (Philosopher, poet, 1863-1952).
Notice that most words describing pants are in plural for the two legs which they cover.
About 1760 most men begin wearing breeches, a tight garment worn from the waist to the knee with stockings covering the rest of the leg, "Britches" was an informal word for breeches. Prior to this men were wearing various form if skirts and dresses (but that's another story).
Pantaloons (where we get the word pants) were made popular in 1812 by George Bryan "Beau" Brummell who wore his with a foot strap (like modern ski pants) to keep the pants tight and avoid creases. Brummell, buddy to the future Hind George IV, developed a dress code that anyone, not just royalty, could follow. He dispensed fashion tips and stressed cleanliness (a novel idea for the time).Pantaloon first appeared as an English word in the 1600's and from the Italian comedy character Pantaleone who wore the first loose "clowns pants". Eventually the characters name came to mean the pants he wore. In England pants still refers only to underwear.
The French revolution of 1789 was also a revolt against breeches as being too upper class. The country peasant trouser look was in.
Trousers probably derived from the words trousers-- drawers, trousses--trunk hose, and/or trousse--to cover, truss. They were looser than the tight pantaloon were favored for daytime wear while pantaloons were more evening attire. Trousers were over breeches when horseback riding to keep the more formal clothes clean.
Sailors had been wearing the looser fit work trousers since the 1580s since they allowed them to roll up the legs for wading ashore or climbing rigging.
In 1846 Sir Harry Lumsden, commanding as English troop in Punjab, India traded in his bright white trousers for pajama bottoms to find relief from the heat. To disguise them he colored them to blend with the local terrain using mazari, a native plant. Thus the birth of Khaki, the Hindu word for "dust". As a by product, Lumsden discovered that the new Khaki pants were more suitable in battle than the white pants, and red tunic. Blending in was good. Khaki is a color, but is now synonymous with a military twill pant.Khaki went from India to the Kaffir War in South Africa in 1851, and then after the Sudan Wars and Afghan Campaign of 1878 it was adopted in 1884 as official uniform. The same year khaki-order dye was adopted by other armies including America for the Spanish-America War in 1898.
Although not all armies were as willing to give up their brightly colored uniforms:
"Les pantaloons rouge, ils sont la France!" - Members of the French Army
Chinos were military issue pants which were originally of Chinese made in China. The British Khakis found their way into China they were duplicated and sold to American soldiers in the Philippines for uniforms. Chinos don't have to be twill, but are often a firm weave of cotton. Chinos can be khaki color. The military style had no pleats and was tapered at the leg bottom to conserve fabric. When soldiers returned to civilian life from WWII they continued to wear their military chinos especially to college.
Reportedly, Bill's khakis is one of the best pants on the market. And L. L. Bean stocks jeans to chinos.
Can we talk about ladies bloomers? They were pants invented by Elizabeth Smith Miller and consisted of a short skirt with baggy trousers gathered at the ankles. This masculine article of clothing appealed to Amelia Jenks Bloomer of Homer, New York who adopted and popularized the style as kind of rebellion about 1850. They were embraced by the first women's liberation troops and sports-minded ladies who rode the bicycle craze of the 1890's.In the 1860's knee pants were popular for sorts such as hunting and golf. They took the form of loose breeches such as "plus fours" which came four inches below the knee. We still see on the golf course. They continued popularity through the 1920s and 30s when they became known as knickerbockers after a common last of the New York Dutch who wore traditional knee pants.
Short pants were also an English military invention to keep defending the far flung Empire. Bermuda shorts were won down to the knee and named after the British island.
Oscar Wild tried reintroduce breeches in 1890, but the gentleman of the day were rational in their rejection. The state of mind held steady until 1925 when a hot summer was the excuse for Oxford Bags. The measurement of these loose pants at the leg bottom reached 40 inches!! Invented and embraced by English Oxford University students, Bags were inspired by the loose trousers that oarsmen slipped on over their shorts. The extreme fashion did not last long, but wear with the Zoot Suit in 1938.
Although not s extreme, another attempt at wide bottoms came when Pierre Cardin popularized bell bottoms in the 60's as a reaction to the new narrow shoulder suits. Jeans were also effected and affected during that time.
Another word which is interchangeable with pants and trousers is slacks, which was coined by the Haggar Corporation in the 1940s as a promotion for their casuals pants, to be worn during your "slack" time between work and sports.We can't talk about pants without a brief history of blue jeans.
Jeans 501 (I mean 101) :
Denim comes from "serge de Nimes" which was a canvas cloth first produced in Nimes, France. It's possible that a sails for Christopher Columbus' ships were made of serge de Nimes. Jeans is derived from Genoese sailors called "genes" who first wore pants of canvas. Dungarees is a Hindu word for course cloth worn by dock workers in Dhunga, India.
But our story really begins in 1853 when Levi Strauss (born Loeb Strauss in Bavaria in 1829) moved to San Francisco to sell canvas cloth for tents and wagon covers to gold miners. He found a more urgent need for plants that would stand up (no pun) to the rigors of mining, so he started making pants out of the brown canvas fabric.In 1860 indigo dye was first used for denim. Indigo is one of the oldest dyes and made from fermented leaves of Indigofera plants which are native to China and India. A synthetic Indigo was introduced in 1897.
Jacob Davis invented metal rivets in 1873 and joined with Strauss to patent their use at stress points on jeans. The crotch rivet at the base of the fly was finally removed in 1941 after many years of complaints about heat conductivity. Company president Walter Haas, Sir was on a camping trip, ventured to covered in 1937 and removed in 1967. In 1873 the stitched back-pocket design was introduced, reported inspired by the wings of an eagle.The "501"is the lot number assigned to the famous "waist overall" in 1890. In 1922 belt loops were added to Levis and H. D Lee introduced the first zipped fly for jeans in 1926. The red tab was attached to the right rear pocket of Levis in 1936.
James Dean appeared wearing jeans in the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause" and American teenagers joined in the rush to rebellion. Jeans were still going strong in 1968 when Landlubber was one of the first to market Bell Bottoms.
In 1987 the "ripped and torn" look was endorsed by manufactures who sold jeans that were already slashed, and 1992 the baggy look gained popularity, inspired by beltless prison jeans and the look of prisoners who loose weight in the "big house".
-- Andy Gilchrist,
for A Man's Life
Clothes
Clothes Forum
The Complete Contents of A Man's Life.
The History of Trousers-Wearing For Women.
By Sarah J Jones
There have been many social constraints for women to come out as an independent entity, and this has been going from the time of our existence. Though women are now seen to be involved in almost every social and professional aspect, but this was definitely not the case, if we trace back to the history of women.
It should be seen that pants, trousers and jeans were earlier associated with men. Women wearing trousers became apparent in women of the 4th century Persian, but this trend of women wearing trousers did not last longer and died soon. It was in the late 19th century that women started wearing men trousers and pants to work. They found wearing trousers to be more convenient and comfortable rather than wearing skirts and dressy outfits. Women did not have a specific brand or designer that manufactured their trouser outfits, and they had to wear men trousers.
Women were initially seen wearing long dresses and skirts throughout the world, obviously more in the western world. Although women did start wearing pants in the late 19th century but they did not have any specific designer. They used to make pants on their own. Women started getting a bit exhausted with wearing the same outfit designs such as long skirts, corsets and petticoats. They did not find any attraction with the same cuts and designs and wanted to try something new and different.
Therefore, pants became highly popular as soon as they hit the market. Though trousers were considered as a masculine dress and women initially hesitated wearing them, but in a little time, women started giving them more preference than any other dress. Trousers were easier to wear. You could even wear them on formal occasions by accessorizing them with the right stuff.
It was in the 1950s - 1960s that Andre Courreges started manufacturing long pants and trousers for women. It became a fashion item, and women of all ages started wearing trousers. Various types of pants and long trousers were introduced, and women started wearing them to a number of different places such as schools, parties, work and restaurants.
With the introduction of pants and trousers, the whole experience of fashion took a turn, leading to reduction in weight and waste. Although knee length pants were introduced in the 1880s - 1890s but these were not considered as lady-like and ultimately did not last for long. A plethora of social movements brought about a change in the dressing for women. And ultimately, trousers became highly popular.
Various other designers stepped into the fashion scene for introducing diverse trouser designs and cuts. Historically, women did not fancy wearing trousers and pants, but now, with lots of designers stepping into the fashion industry and introducing many trouser designs, wearing trousers with classy shirts and tops have become a fashion statement.
The revolution in the clothing for women was brought about because flowing gowns and tunics no longer seemed appropriate to be worn in the working environment, and therefore, trousers became the first choice for working women. This trend was then passed on to women of all types, ages and profession.
