The history of men's trousers. Interesting facts from the history of trousers
Scientists believe that the history of trousers began in the days of primitive man and attribute this to the gradual migration of people to cooler climatic conditions. This is confirmed by the mummy of Ötzi, found in the Alps, a man who lived in the Chalcolithic era.
Nomads were the first in Eurasia to wear trousers. They appreciated the convenience of such riding clothes. For the same reason, trousers were widely used among the Scythians and Persians, a little later the Germans and Huns appreciated their merits.
Each leg in those days was considered a separate item, so the word "trousers" in most languages refers to nouns that have only a plural.
The ancient Romans, considering pants an attribute of the barbarians, treated them with disdain. But trying to find at least some means to escape from the piercing cold, the legionnaires of the Roman Empire, participating in long wars, nevertheless began to use trousers. The rest of the population eventually adopted this custom. Since the pants were most often short, traditional Roman clothing could hide them, making them not too noticeable.
The history of trousers in Rus' began in the 11th century. At that time they were called trousers, ports or bloomers. By the end of the 18th century, the word “pants” appeared, and the concept of “ports” began to refer to the designation of underwear. The term "trousers" came to Russia during the reforms of Peter I and is the Dutch word "broek" read in the Russian manner, which can be transported as "sailor's pants".
The history of women's trousers, by the way, did not begin in the 20th century, as many might think, but much earlier. Since ancient times, both men and women have worn trousers in the East. For the fairer sex, trousers replaced underwear; they wore them under skirts or dresses.
The inhabitants of ancient China did not immediately like the pants, only with the advent of the cavalry, the trousers took root as a uniform. By the way, women in China were allowed to wear trousers without a skirt, unlike the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East.
In the Middle Ages in Japan, only representatives of the nobility, courtiers and samurai could wear trousers (hakama), commoners had to walk only in loincloths. An exception was made only for solemn occasions, for example, a wedding ceremony. Since not everyone was allowed to wear trousers, it was always possible to determine by their presence which social stratum a person belonged to.
Which gradually moved to cooler climatic zones. This is confirmed by the mummy of Ötzi, a man who lived in the Chalcolithic era, discovered in the Alps.
Pants in the history of the ancient peoples of Europe
On the territory of Eurasia, representatives of the peoples were the first to wear trousers: this type of clothing turned out to be the most suitable for riding. Therefore, they were very common among the Persians and Scythians, and a little later - the Germans and the Huns. In those days, each trouser leg was considered a separate item, which is why in most languages trousers are nouns that have only the plural.
Trousers, which were also called trousers, ports or harem pants, were already known at the beginning of the 11th century. The word "pants" originated towards the end of the 18th century, and the concept of "ports" was now used to refer to underwear (pants, underwear). The term "trousers", derived from the Dutch "broek" and meaning "trousers of a sailor", also spread in Russia in the 18th century during the reforms of Peter I.
Despite the fact that trousers are considered a paired item and have only the plural form, however, in the domestic marine terminology there is still the word "bryukanets", which is used in the singular. Outwardly, the trouser looks like half of ordinary trousers, but according to its functional purpose, it is a sleeve that closes the round gap located between the deck and the mast in order to prevent water flowing down the surface of the mast from entering the hold. The concept of "trousers" became widespread only in the next century.
Pants were treated with disdain, considering them attributes of the barbarians, however, during the long wars waged by the Roman Empire, legionnaires began to use trousers to protect themselves from the piercing cold, and then the rest of the population adopted this custom. Most often, the pants were short, so they were not too noticeable under traditional Roman clothing. The Romans borrowed the term "trousers" from the Gauls, who had the word "brok".
Trousers in the wardrobe of the inhabitants of the East
In the East, for a long time, trousers were worn not only by men, but also by the fairer sex, and the latter wore them under a dress or skirt as underwear.
The inhabitants of ancient China initially did not really like pants, but everything changed with the advent of the cavalry, for which these clothes became a kind of uniform. Unlike Central Asia and the Middle East, here women were allowed to wear trousers without a skirt.
Text: Danila Maslov
Illustrations: Stepan Giliev, Sergey Radionov
Pants have not been a symbol of masculinity for a long time: it was almost a hundred years since women won the right to wear clothes sewn between their legs. But until now, in some regions, it is customary to scold the ladies who encroached on this shrine - they say, decent girls should be ashamed.
Although, it would seem, why are you ashamed? On the contrary, in terms of protecting girlish honor, pants, as you and I know, will give a hundred points ahead of any dress. They will not be lifted by a gust of wind, they will not fail the fallen hostess with indecent bullying, and it is much more difficult to get to the female body dressed in this armor. And tight jeans can generally be removed only by acting together with their owner, in four hands (besides, it’s not a fact that pants capitulate).
And the thing is that once it was indecent to wear pants even for men. In our, so to speak, European culture, they immediately appeared as a shameful toilet item - godless, impious and vicious. And they have remained so to this day. Of course, not all, but only some species.
The riddle of the stirrup, time and trouser leg
In fact, no one knows exactly when mankind invented pants. Something like fur overalls were apparently worn by some northern tribes of the deep past, but their contacts with the rest of the world were practically zero. In the world of ancient civilizations, there were no pants in principle. The Mesopotamians on their bas-reliefs have skirts sewn from the bottom in the middle, the Indians a few thousand years ago were wiser with loincloths, so that sometimes something pant-like turned out. But in general, ancient men preferred to walk in dresses, skirts and aprons. For the reason that they didn’t need pants for nothing: there was a lot of fuss with tailoring, but no functionality.
Why does a real man need pants when he has a great comfortable dress?!Just imagine: you are an ancient Egyptian. Or a Jew. Or Greek. Why do you need pants? To shine naked, I'm sorry, backwards, peeing? To suffer, inventing belts, ties, buttons and fly? So that expensive matter is uneconomically rubbed in, as they used to say, “quilts and laces”? So that the seams cut where they don’t need when you bend over, and on a hot day you were sweating, deprived of air access to the body? So that you don’t fit into your pants, having grown fat, and after a crop failure, they fell off you?
Here, women sometimes invented something like that for themselves in order to protect themselves from our immodest encroachments. And in general for hygienic purposes. Oriental sharovarchiki in harems sewed for themselves. Why does a real man need pants when he has a great comfortable dress?!
But you have to pay for convenience. Perhaps it was precisely the absence of pants in the wardrobe of an ancient man that was the reason that incredibly late humanity fully mastered such a wonderful thing as horse riding. Or, on the contrary, the sluggish use of riding did not encourage the invention of normal strong trousers.
Riding sideways on donkeys - please. You can ride a horse if you don't feel sorry for your future heirs - but this is a matter for servants and boys. Even among the Assyrians, the messengers rushed along the roads on horseback, picking up their skirts. Even analogues of the horse saddle were invented by some nations, although these pads with straps did not look much like a saddle in our understanding. But a warrior on horseback is nonsense. How will he fight, clinging to the animal with his hands and feet and experiencing unbearable torment in the rubbed genitals?
No, a real warrior must be on foot. Or on a chariot. Here is a chariot - a wonderful invention: the charioteer drives, the archer or spearman stands behind and beats everything that moves. And a real warrior, of course, will fight in real men's clothing - a miniskirt trimmed with metal plates. Yes, you can’t ride a chariot everywhere, it is suitable for flat semi-deserts or special natural arenas for battles. On paved pavements of all sorts of Thebes and Athens, it is very effective, on Roman roads. And it is not necessary for Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians or Romans to rush through wild forests and hills. Let the pitiful barbarians sit out in this wilderness - they won’t dare to poke their nose into the cities anyway. Many of them ride horseback, a wild, barbaric way of getting around. For this purpose, they wear shameful leather clothes called "pants", but they can only fight with half-wild villagers. They will jump in their pants, jump off their horses, take out their swords from their shoulder bags - and loot. Before the arrival of the regular army, of course, because they are untrained rabble and they will have one salvation - to jump on their horses and run away, losing prey along the way and catching the arrows of archers with their backs. Fu, disgrace!*
* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
«
In fact, horseback riding was sometimes used in regular troops, for example, among the same Greeks, but the importance of the then cavalry was very small. Basically, horses were needed to carry the soldiers to the enemy, after which they dismounted and fought already on the ground»
Barbarian pants were worn approximately the same as in the photo on the right. The one in the picture is about three thousand years old.
And around the 4th century AD, something irreparable happened. Some scoundrels invented the stirrup. And it was a revolution comparable to the advent of the atomic bomb.
From now on, a person could ride a horse and at the same time shoot from a bow, hit with a spear or work with a sword. The rider ceased to be a helpless target for a foot or charioteer, he himself turned into a formidable force. And the war horse has become the most important element of the army. And here an interesting metamorphosis happened with the pants.
You need to understand that by that time an enlightened Chinese or a respectable Roman treated trousers as you would treat a palm-leaf skirt. It was the clothes of lower creatures, half-humans, all kinds of Scythians and Xiongnu - horsemeat eaters. Decent people were supposed to wear silk robes, snow-white togas, or proudly sparkle with their bare knees under short military shirts.
Therefore, for another five hundred years, pants were camouflaged in every possible way, especially among Europeans. They were hidden under togas, mantles and robes with a slit. They were completely unacceptable in secular clothes; rulers and especially priests did not wear them.
But even after the men nevertheless admitted their shame, the attire of their legs still pretended to be anything but barbaric coarse trousers. Now we can call a spade a spade: men began to wear stockings.
Choking on the highways
From about the 11th century, the long hemlines of men begin to rise, and we see the beauty that has hitherto been hidden from the world. The French called it chausses, the Italians - calzones: stockings made of cloth or silk, tightly fitting the leg and attached to the sides with ropes to the loincloth - bre. So that the chausses sat tightly, they were supposed to be worn wet. There is a complaint of a 14th-century boy who, in a letter to his mother, lamented that “the highways torment him, because they are much tighter than his skin, because in the skin he feels light and free, and in the highways he experiences true suffering.” From above, a man of the Middle Ages put on a short dress and a short cloak - such an outfit was considered modest and dignified. True, in this outfit you had to be very careful not to bend over when you had a significant person, a church or a priest behind your back: insulting these objects by the look of your bra was supposed to pay a fine.
Now we can call a spade a spade: men began to wear stockings
It is extremely interesting to read, in chronological order, the complaints of medieval moralists about the decline of morals regarding trousers. Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, they fought with multi-colored highways. Medieval dandies made a bad habit of wearing stockings of different colors: red and blue, yellow and purple, or white and green. This was considered extremely vicious. Then they began to fight with skirts that were sewn to the highways. Then - with panties-ottomans. Pants were growing in volume, and this undoubtedly indicated that the entire modern society would go to hell. Then came the fight against codpieces. Texts condemning this pernicious detail of the toilet multiplied, as the codpieces became more and more massive and in the end reached half a meter in length; they were worn curled in spirals and used as purses. Around the same time, the engineering genius of mankind realized that highways could be stitched from above. So pants were reinvented, or rather, to be honest, tights.
At this time, the papal throne repeatedly anathematized another vicious hobby - false calves. One codpiece, as it turned out, you can’t corrupt Catholic women - you had to put pieces of wood in tights that imitated pumped up calf muscles. A favorite satirical object of 15th-century poetry is "an old man with dyed hair and false calves that are tangled and stick out behind him like stocks, which he undoubtedly deserves for daring to rush to a date with a beauty."
And only from the XV-XVI centuries a new type of pants appeared - something similar to modern breeches with cuffs. They were worn under a cropped dress during pilgrimage trips, for example. It was coarse, almost peasant clothing. High-born gentlemen were still experimenting with lace on tights.
Pantsless Regicides
But the time has come, and the aristocrats realized that short pants to the knees, moderately tight or extended in fashion, are a very convenient thing. In France, pants were called "culottes" and were banned for all classes except the nobility. Non-nobles were ordered to wear long, ankle-length pants. Firstly, from a distance it is clear who should do “ku” to whom three times, and secondly, there is not enough silk for stockings, the nobles themselves do not have enough, let the rest wear cloth windings. Throughout the 17th and throughout the 18th centuries, people in long trousers looked sternly at how people in short trousers strangled them with taxes, whipped them, shaved them into the army and trampled their fields on dog hunting. The mood of people in long pants gradually deteriorated.
Sensing something was wrong, people in short pants allowed the then OMON, that is, all kinds of guards, to wear short pants - however, always with button fasteners, so as not to be confused with real short pants. But it was already too late.
People in long trousers, calling themselves sans-culottes (skulottes), staged a mass shaking out of their owners' culottes and even cut off the head of the main wearer of short pants - the king himself. After that, for thirty years, Europe plunged into bloody chaos, from which it emerged already wiser - and about taxes, and about lashes, and about pants.
Well, that is, for a while.
The great unnamed
No matter how the French Revolution was treated in the rest of the world, the fashions of post-revolutionary France became universal. Men of all classes donned long trousers - by and large, for the first time since the time of the Huns. Priests, of course, still hid vicious underpants and ports under cassocks and cassocks, and hussars and dragoons wore tight white pantyhose - breeches for a long time, because army fashions are generally a conservative thing. But, in general, long pants - trousers - celebrated an absolute victory over Christian civilization and even became its unofficial banner, although its founder, to be honest, neglected this detail of the wardrobe. The black suit of a European man has become a symbol of our world order for two hundred years.
True, it was at this time that the very word "pants" was perceived as completely indecent in most languages. In advertisements for tailors and shops, pants were called "the lower part of the suit", "pedestal", "number two". And in Russian, German, English and French, the semi-joking term “inexpressible” or “unnameable” (inexpressibles) even arose.
“I go out - and see - behind the gate - a man badly dressed with torn inexpressible ones, and in front of the gate Pegaz in the pose of a winner,” we read in I. Turgenev's essay “Pegas”.
Boys in dresses
Until the 20th century, boys in wealthy families up to 5–6 years old were dressed exclusively in dresses. It is possible to distinguish a boy from a girl in the paintings only by the fact that the dresses on the boys were usually brighter, and the neckline was made deeper than that of the girls. Buying the first short pants was an important element of initiation into a man's life, but real long pants were usually bought at 11-13 years old. In Russia, the first long trousers were usually trousers from a gymnasium uniform, a cadet uniform, etc. The children of the common people wore shirts up to 3-4 years old, and then they immediately received long trousers. So the image of a boy in short pants - a spoiled barchuk - still exists. And short pants, which were part of the uniform of the pioneers, scouts and the Hitler Youth, were originally chosen as a symbol of the well-being of the boys who wear them. Hello culottes.
Horror in shorts
The next time, Hitler personally took up the topic of short and long pants. The Nazi ideological doctrine, which loved to nod at the Romans for any reason, could not ignore the aversion that the Romans felt for long trousers. It was proclaimed that the special strength and frost resistance of the Aryans is achieved by wearing shorts, which are their national clothes, the Aryan-Germans. The national costume of many Germans, especially the Tyroleans, really included cropped trousers, but not shorts, but knee-length breeches similar to culottes. The ancient Germans just conquered Rome in long leather pants. But which ideologue has ever been interested in reality?
Wearing short leather pants was one way to show loyalty to the regime.
The Führer himself liked to pose in shorts, while the Hitler Youth wore shorts in winter and summer, and in general, wearing leather short pants was one of the ways to express complete loyalty to the regime. It is not surprising that after the war, for another thirty years, shorts were not popular clothing among adult European men, and only in the late sixties they were forgiven for their fascist past. The reputation of the Tyrolean costume has not yet been fully restored.
Trouser identification
If someone thinks that near-pants scandals are things of the bygone past, then they are mistaken. Their grandfathers and fathers can tell how they hid from the Komsomol patrols, which in the sixties caught men in tight trousers, dudes, and ripped bad trousers at the seams. In the seventies, they were already caught for wide trousers - flared (trousers, however, were not taken in, but they reported a violation at the place of work or study). In the seventies, they fought with imperialist jeans, and the eighties were marked by a fierce battle with shorts on the city streets, because the builder of communism cannot sparkle with bare calves.
No, no, do not flatter yourself, pants are still a serious problem for a large part of humanity. Shorts and overly tight pants are actively discouraged in many Islamic countries. And a year ago in the city of Wildwood (New Jersey, USA) it was forbidden to appear on the street in pants lowered below the waist - the mayor of the city personally swore that he would fine and arrest any lopsided rebel who dares to show the world an elastic band from his underpants.
So, we see, to some extent, the pants have become the cornerstone of our civilization, which says a lot about this civilization, alas.
In a situation where modern men allow themselves to loosen their tie, the inhabitants of the 14th century, remaining in a friendly company, allowed themselves to loosen the chausses - lower them to their knees and intercept them with a rope. At the beginning of the XIV century, the French army, led by Louis the Grumpy, regularly suffered from dysentery during campaigns. By a personal decree of the king, the entire army was ordered to make a cut on the back of the loincloth (bre), so that, having fallen ill, the warrior would not delay the line, but would solve his problems on the go.
R. Kirsanova
Yes, in fact, any clothes always correspond to the time and place: in the morning we take off our pajamas, and then put on skirts, trousers, jackets or coats; lace up shoes or sneakers; We put on a beret or a cap and go about our business. On holidays, our clothes are more elegant. It can be decorated with embroidery or lace, sewn from the most beautiful and fashionable fabric, if a girl wears it. And boys love pockets, buttons, and other more masculine trims.
So, all things, before getting into our closet, lived a long life and traveled a lot. Not the objects themselves, of course, but the ideas thanks to which we can enjoy all the benefits of civilization today. It turns out that the birthplace of pajamas - India, sandals - Egypt. That once people did not know how to cut clothes and therefore wore a variety of draperies. If men's and women's clothes are of the same cut, this means that they appeared in very distant times, when clothes were not yet divided into men's and women's, and the goal was the same - to protect the body.
In ancient times, trousers and skirts meant not men and women, but the way of life of an entire people. Nomads, who spent their lives on horseback and traveled great distances every day, needed long trousers so as not to rub their legs during long horse rides. In a harsh climate, in the Far North, for example, pants were also very comfortable. And other peoples, farmers, shepherds, hunters, wore long shirts, aprons, and even what we call a skirt. This is such a part of the clothes that is worn on the belt and therefore experts who study the clothes of different countries call it the belt.
Over time, men who led a more active lifestyle, traveling far from their native lands, began to wear some kind of trousers. The name in this case is not so important. In different countries they were called differently, and their cut was also different.
What do kings wear
Napoleon on the imperial throne. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. 1806
The mantle of the king was lined with the fur of an ermine, an animal with a very rare color - absolutely white, but with a black tip of the tail. No one else had the right to wear such fur, except for members of the royal family, and therefore the ermine served as a symbol of supreme power. Just like precious patterned fabrics, rare stones and silk lace.
There were other opportunities to show the involvement of a person in the powerful of this world. Sometimes it was very funny ways. For example, in France and some other European countries, only nobles were allowed to wear knee-length trousers, which required stockings and buckled shoes. Commoners - townspeople and peasants - wore long pants. Instead of shoes, they had wooden clogs, and they didn’t need stockings at all.
The French called the pants of the nobility culotte. When the people rebelled against the royal tyranny, then into the streets
Paris came men in long pants,who immediately began to be called "sans-culottes", that is, people without pants.
Sansculotte on the left. The man with the drum on the right is in culottes. Engraving. 19th century
The diplomats of those countries that decided to no longer use French in their reports wrote to their governments that the pantsless had seized power.
Very soon, long pants became fashionable for all men. But short pants have not disappeared. With their help, fifteen years after the revolutionary events, the length of the trousers indicated age. Only after reaching the age of ten or twelve did the boys, going to the gymnasium, lyceum or school, put on their first long trousers. In the summer, on holidays and when traveling, short pants were more comfortable; in our time, short pants have returned to everyday life in the form of sportswear - shorts. However, they can be seen now in the summer on people of all ages.
Modern Scottish kilt
Women, whose duties were related to the house and caring for children, kept long shirts and skirts. But we know that some nations have not abandoned men's skirts even today. The Scots still wear them today. Once upon a time, they wrapped a very long woolen plaid around their hips, the free end of which was thrown over their shoulders. We can say that they draped a plaid around the body. Draped details point to the ancient origin of the kilt - the name of the Scots skirt. Only by the 19th century the plaid seemed to be divided into two parts. One turned into a skirt, and the other remained a piece of cloth on the shoulders. This was preceded by very important historical events for Scotland. Scotland was annexed to England, and so that the Scots would not forget their defeat, they were forbidden to wear their national costume. After more than a hundred years, they were allowed to return to their traditional kilts, but now the kilt has changed slightly. 
The most famous plaid wool fabric is called tartan. The cage is the simplest textile pattern that has become the national ornament of Scotland.
Sari
If you pull the warp of one color on the loom, and the weft threads of another, you get a colored cage. Kilts of noble Scots were five- or seven-colored. Simple shepherds and farmers were limited to two, three colors, or even completely monochromatic. By the color and size of the cells on the fabric, it was possible to find out to which clan this or that person belongs. No one used other people's cells, because a brave and courageous person will not abandon his family and hide behind a false name. Until now, during the holidays and on the occasion of important events in their lives, Scottish men, no matter how far they are from their native Scotland, put on a kilt.
The inhabitants of India, those regions where women from ancient times to the present day wear saris, daily do the same as the Scots did in antiquity. Indian women wrap a long piece of silk or cotton fabric around their hips, and throw the remaining end over their shoulders. Then they can cover their heads or cover their child. The color of the sari, the nature of the ornament at its free end will indicate the area in which they are made and where its owner comes from.
boy in sarong
Ornament and color were the most effective way to communicate your family name. Almost all nations have done this for a long time.
In Renaissance Italy, one could also find out which family a person belongs to by the ornament on puffy sleeves. A palm tree, rose or pomegranate embroidered with colored silk and gilded threads served as a reliable identification mark. The image of a palm tree, for example, meant that a girl or a young man was named della Palma.
But even today, not only the Scots wear skirts. Residents of Indonesia, men and women, wear a sarong. This is also a skirt, which is a piece of fabric wrapped tightly around the hips and reaching the ankles. Europeans who come to rest on the Indonesian islands can appreciate the convenience of a sarong in the hot and humid climate of this region of the earth.
In some countries, trousers are part of the women's costume. Of course, they are not at all like modern jeans that can be found in any country. These are spacious bloomers - trousers, pulled together at the waist and at the ankles. In South India, such women's trousers differ from men's trousers only in color.
Today, women of all countries wear trousers if circumstances so require - travel, work in the garden or in factories where a wide or narrow skirt can interfere with driving or working at the machine. But a man in a skirt in Europe often causes surprise and irritation.
Kirsanova R. Ribbons, laces, boots... M.: Rudomino, Eksmo, 2006. Pp. 35-41.
The first models are the progenitors of modern trousers.
Pants have been worn by humans for thousands of years. And in the last century, this piece of clothing has become so popular and has become a staple in every wardrobe that it is called the hit of the century.
Traditionally, trousers have always been considered clothing for men, although historically and practically they have been transformed from "skirts", which have always been considered clothing for the "weak" half of humanity - women. But, it is worth returning to those distant times and remembering that it was men who wore animal skins wrapped around their waists, so reminiscent of a women's skirt. And only the inconvenience experienced by the men who saddled the horse and learned to ride, most likely made it possible to change their everyday outfit in this way.
Let's look further: Persian warriors, for military campaigns over long distances, further improved their clothes, tightening the hem with a belt designed for this. Even in later times, clothes already in the process of being sewn were made with unsewn leg holes. Even later, at the ankles and waist (you can already call it “trousers”), “drawstrings” for cords were left, and this attire was very reminiscent of modern bloomers.
For many centuries, men wore short pants, in a special way attaching stockings to them. A very interesting fact: it was fashionable and also considered a special chic if stockings of different colors were worn. During the XVII - XVIII centuries, men also wore culottes - these are short trousers that end below the knee with cuffs fastened with buttons. These clothes first appeared at the court of Louis XIV in France, and were a fashionable element of a suit for men until the beginning of the 19th century. (This is interesting! 1966 - Yves Saint Laurent reintroduced such models of trousers into modern fashion, but already as an element of a women's suit).
Throughout the history of its existence, trousers have amazed and surprised with their variety and quirkiness of forms: culottes; trousers for the nobility, worn in the 16th century, resembling a pillow in shape, with cuts on top through which expensive fabric of underwear was visible. At one time, chausses were very popular among men - pants up to the middle of the calves, decorated with many ribbons. Military themes are also reflected in fashion and trousers. For example, jodhpurs are long trousers that are tight-fitting to the legs and greatly expanded at the hips. These trousers became the uniform of the cavalry divisions, having received their name from the name of G. de Galifet, a French general. Paying tribute to the French Revolution, long pantaloons came into fashion, completely covering the leg. They got their name in honor of Pantalone - the hero of the theatrical comedy. Prior to this, long trousers were professional clothing, and they were worn exclusively by "working people" - chimney sweeps, peasants, sailors.
Close to modern models, trousers, like waist outerwear, consisting of two trousers sewn together with side, step and middle seams, came into fashion only at the end of the 18th - at the beginning of the 19th centuries.
What country is considered to be the birthplace of modern trousers? Of course, England. After all, it was from there that the description of a real gentleman first came - a well-bred man, successful in all spheres of life, dressed in a tuxedo, vest, shirt, tie, trousers, gloves, top hat and with a cane in his hand. This image, created at the beginning of the 19th century, is still an authority and an object of imitation for all men.
History of trousers in Russia.
In Russia, the original male part of clothing was called "trousers" or "ports", regardless of the status and wealth of its owner. That is why the tailor is called that - a master craftsman who is engaged in sewing ports (trousers) - the basis of a suit for men. Ports were sewn from two pieces of cloth or canvas, in the place where the parts were connected, a piece of a rhombic shape (from the same fabric) was inserted. The ports were gathered in the waist area on a cord or rope-gashnik. The Slavs called the legs “gachs”, and, accordingly, the clothes for the legs - “gachas”. If you turn to Dahl's explanatory dictionary, you can find many different names for this piece of clothing: trousers, trousers, gachas, nagovits, ostegny, nadragi. Of course, for us and our contemporaries, the name is more familiar - trousers. Without this clothing, and its varieties, it is difficult to imagine the life of every person - starting from the toddler age. Let's continue ... Trousers came to Russia, like most other innovations, along with Peter I. In 1700, the reformer tsar, by his decree, forcibly introduced European fashion, forbidding townspeople and nobles to wear primordially Russian costume. From that time on, everyone's costume had to consist of the following items: caftan, camisole, stockings, shoes with buckles and culottes. Tailoring of products for the nobility was carried out from high-quality cloth, which was specially brought from Holland, the city of Bruges. And the fabric was called "brukish". (The word "trousers" is of Turkic origin and means "double skirt" or "double skirt").
In Russia, the trousers were originally short (culottes), only the working people wore long trousers, tucking them into their trousers for convenience, and the peasants dressed in ports. Starting from the second half of the 19th century, the population of villages and villages gradually began to change the ports to trousers with a belt and fastened with buttons. At the end of the 19th century, as in most European countries, trousers were already worn for release.
The history of women's trousers.
The history of women's trousers is very interesting and fascinating, which goes back to the distant past with its origins. It is recognized that the historical homeland of women's trousers is the East. It was there that for the first time, in 800 BC, this piece of clothing appeared in the ladies' wardrobe of Queen Semiramis. The queen took part in military campaigns, together with her husband, and she needed to hide her belonging to the female sex, which is why Semiramis dressed in men's attire. And, if you remember the fairy tale "A Thousand and One Nights", then there you can also find descriptions of transparent bloomers of dancing girls-concubines.
But, if you can find images of beautiful ladies in pants, in ancient times, then already in later times, women who dared to wear "barbarian" clothes were persecuted and even executed. In the Middle Ages, trousers were considered a privilege only for men, and for women who dared to wear trousers, the church declared a real war.
George Sand - a famous French writer, became the very first adherent of fashion for women's trousers in the middle of the 19th century. But her contemporaries did not understand her, although the models of women's clothing gradually began to change and approach men's - with the emergence and growth of the feminist movement, the promotion of equality between the sexes. The most relevant trousers became during the First World War, when women had to work for a long time on an equal basis with men.
Marlene Dietrich is a famous actress, in the 30s of the XX century she tried on a men's suit, borrowing a hat and tie from men as well. And, even despite the fact that the actress was a favorite of the public, and she had many fans, it was not possible to instill a universal love of women for trousers.
And already the legendary Gabrielle Chanel introduced trousers into the women's wardrobe as an attribute of clothing for women, although evening dresses were still offered for going out. A significant milestone in the world fashion trend was the introduction of a trouser suit to the general public by the famous, world-famous couturier Yves Saint Laurent in 1966. This trouser suit immediately fell in love with most women. The presented collection was sold out instantly at a very high (literally fabulous) price. True, it was still impossible to visit many prestigious restaurants and establishments in it, the entrance to ladies in these clothes was closed. The trouser suit and its elements were introduced into everyday life by the famous Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani. This happened already in the 80s. The suit was intended mainly for working women who prefer a strict style of dress. And since that time, a trouser suit has become an unshakable symbol of successful, business women.
Modern trousers.
In the modern world, the breadth and diversity of the assortment of trousers allows women to wear everything that was once forbidden to them: breeches, shorts, capris (these are practically culottes), trousers of various styles and models. The vast majority of our contemporaries have trousers in their wardrobe. Moreover, for every woman, depending on the characteristics of her figure and style preferences, you can choose the perfect option.
The VIA LADY company specializes exclusively in the production of trousers and offers its customers a wide range of sizes and a wide range of models:
Dress Pants: Tailored, straight-leg trousers look great on any figure and are perfect for women of all ages. Classic trousers are straight trousers, most of the models have a sewn-on belt, complete with a belt, legs 24 cm wide, trousers have a high fit on the figure (26-27 cm).
Youth trousers: figure-hugging trousers, flared - expanding from the knee. The fit of the trousers can be either normal (24-26 cm) or low (20-22 cm). The width of the trousers at the bottom (flared) is from 23 to 28 cm, in the knee area - 20-23 cm. details: a variety of pockets, zippers, flaps, rivets, original belts - they perfectly emphasize the youthful image of the models.
Flared from the middle of the thigh: these models of trousers do not fit the knee very much, have a slightly extended cut to the bottom, their fit depth is 26-28 cm. This model is optimal for women of various shapes and ages.
Pipes and half pipes: this model is preferred by women and girls who seek to level (hide) the flaws and features of their figure. Wide pipes have a width of 28 cm, also in the assortment of models there are half-pipes 26 cm wide. The trousers are slightly tight-fitting, making it possible to hide the fullness of the female leg. These models have a high fit, can be either with or without a sewn-in belt.
Capris: These are cropped trousers, can be with or without cuffs. The width of capris is the most diverse: straight trousers are produced, slightly narrowed towards the bottom, as well as flared trousers. The depth of landing of trousers - capris can be very different. Youth capri pants are original, presented in the assortment line - finished with drawings, appliqués and embroidery, with bright fittings. Strict classic capris designed for large women are also popular.
The choice is yours: try on, determine those models that suit you perfectly, correspond to your style, image and status. We live in a happy time: after all, the persecution of trouser fashion is far in the past, and today trousers are present in the wardrobe of every woman - after all, this is a constant “hit” of every season!
