By Tim Lambert
Early Pants
During the Ice Age, people who lived in Europe wore pants made from animal skins. In a cold climate, trousers were practical.
About 3,00 BC, people in Central Asia wore trousers because they spent a lot of time riding horses. Pants were practical for horse riding.
A people called the Celts migrated to Britain from about 650 BC onwards. Celtic men wore pants, but women wore dresses. Men in Germany also wore pants.
However, the Greeks and Romans despised pants. They thought pants were barbaric. Even so, in the Roman Empire, some soldiers wore trousers as they were more practical, especially in the North. In the 4th century, the common people started wearing them as well.
After the Roman army left Britain in 407 AD, the Anglo-Saxons invaded. Saxon men wore trousers. Saxon women only wore dresses.
In Europe, men continued to wear pants during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Pants took on their modern form in the 19th century. Jeans were patented in 1873.
Where did the word pants come from? It is derived from a character in an Italian comedy called Pantalone. He wore long pants down to his ankles (when most men wore ones that came to the knee). In English-speaking countries in the 18th century, long pants were known as pantaloons. In the USA in the mid-19th century, they became known as pants.
In Europe, only men wore pants until the 19th century. However, in the Ottoman Empire, women often wore them. Not surprisingly, in a cold climate, Inuit women also wore pants.
Women’s Pants
In the Western World during the 19th century, it was unacceptable for women to wear pants. They could even be arrested for wearing them. In 1852, a woman named Emma Snodgrass was arrested several times in Boston for wearing pants under anti-vagrancy laws. Each time, she was sent home to her father. Another woman, Harriet French, was also arrested in Boston in 1852 for wearing pants. She was sentenced to jail but was released on condition that she leave the city.
The last time a woman in the USA was jailed for wearing pants was in 1938. Helen Hulick was a witness in a court case. She arrived wearing pants. The judge ordered her to go home and put on a dress. Twice, she refused and returned to the court wearing pants. The judge sentenced her to 5 days in jail for contempt of court. However, the court of appeals overruled his decision. After that, women could wear pants to court.
In the 1930s, the actress Marlene Dietrich sometimes wore pants. At the time, that was daring. However, during the Second World War, many women who worked in industry or agriculture wore pants. When the war ended, some women continued to wear pants sometimes. However, until the 1960s and 1970s, there was still sometimes resistance to women wearing pants to school or work. It took a long time before it was acceptable for women to wear pants everywhere.
In 1969, Representative Charlotte T. Reid became the first woman to wear pants in the House of Representatives. However, female senators were not allowed to wear pants in the US Senate until 1993.
By the early 1970s, it was acceptable for girls to wear pants to school. In 1973, the White House allowed women employees to wear pants. Some Airlines did not allow women flight crews to wear pants until the 21st Century.
National No Pants Day is on the first Friday in May.
