[MR] history of pants links (Fwd: Aoife-Links Digest, Vol 13, Issue 2)

Thu Nov 10 11:01:25 PST 2005

In a message dated 11/10/2005 12:05:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
aoife-links-request at scatoday.net writes:

Today's  Topics:

1. Trew Love! The History of Pants  (Aoife)

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Message:  1
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 22:24:29 -0500
From: "Aoife"  <aoife at scatoday.net>
Subject: [Aoife-Links] Trew Love! The History of  Pants
To: <aoife-links at scatoday.net>
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Greetings my Faithful Readers!

Let me ask  you a few questions: Do you worry that pants (trousers) aren't 
right for  your (or your man's) personae? Have you worried that your 
portrayal of a  given culture isn't perfect because of an insistence to wear 
pants as a  part of the costume? Are you sure you won't feel like a real man 
(or look  like one) if you don't have your pants properly girded with a belt 
and  securely portraying manliness to all those who behold you?

I'm here to  tell you that you can stop worrying. Pants ARE period. For many 
cultures,  and in some form, throughout most time periods. Medieval men were 
not  sentenced to wear "a dress and stockings" for most of our time periods,  
despite what you may have heard, and despite cheesy Robin Hood movies on  
cablevision. I should caution:  If a gentleman wants to do so, and  has the 
panache to do so, it's perfectly historical to wear a doublet and  tights, 
and it's imperative to wear them if you're portraying certain  times and 
cultures. I'm a big fan of men in tights! I am not a fan of  trying to talk 
said men into wearing those tights when they want to wear  pants. Therefore I 
say--choose a different time or a different place.  
Pants/trousers/trews/pluderhosen are historical to our entire time period  in 
SOME culture--and sometimes in addition to stockings--if the proper  research 
is done to match the garment to the time and the culture. And  pants are also 
historical for women during some of our period of study! In  fact, there was 
a time and place when pants were considered  un-manly!

Here's your chance to make a stand for the wearer of the  Pants in the 
family! May he (or she) steadfastly defend their right to  costume themselves 
in the pants of historical choice, secure in the  knowledge that there is no 
historical sin being committed. Unless, of  course you chose to wear Persian 
trousers with a bum roll, kimono, and  Bonnet with cockade. Now that would be 
a sin.

Read on to find out  what you can wear and who you can be, if pants are a 
mandatory part of  your SCAdian wardrobe.

Cheers!

Aoife

Dame Aoife Finn of  Ynos Mon
m/k/a Lisbeth Herr-Gelatt
Riverouge
Endless  Hills
Aethelmearc

History of Blue  Jeans
http://www.sloops.com/history.htm
(Site Excerpt) Most reference  books say that denim is an English corruption
of the French phrase "serge  de Nimes;" a serge/twill fabric from the town of
Nimes in France dating  back to the 17th century. At the same time, there was
also a fabric known  in France as "nim." Both fabrics were composed partly of
wool and we infer  de Nimes = denim. Mis translated when it crossed the
English Channel , let  alone when reaching the American shores in the NE mill
towns.Serge de Nimes  was also known in England before the end of the  17th
century.

Trousers in  History
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0767765.html
(Site  Excerpt)
a.. In the fourth century, women in the Western world wore pants,  which they
adapted from the Persians. At that time, pants were considered  unmanly.
a.. By the Middle Ages in Europe women were wearing dresses and  men were
wearing breeches.
a.. After the French Revolution, men took off  their high heels, silk
stockings, and wigs and began wearing  trousers.

Wikipedia:  Trousers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousers
(Site Excerpt) The hose  were easy to make and fastened to a doublet at the
top with ties called  "points", but as time went by, the two hose were
joined, first in the back  then across the front, but still leaving a large
opening for sanitary  functions. Originally, doublets came almost to the
knees, effectively  covering the genitalia, but as fashions changed and
doublets became  shorter, it became necessary (and required by the church)
for men to cover  their genitals with a codpiece.

Isle of Man--Dress in the Middle  Ages
http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/history/dress/dress.htm
(Site  Excerpt) The lower classes and ordinary fighting men wore a short  and
sometimes sleeveless jacket, with a shorter version of the mantle, and  tight
' trews ' Gaelic triubhas (a word from which the English 'trousers'  is
derived) Trews were not unlike the medieval 'trunk hose' of Western  
Europe...

Stefan's Florilegium:
A Reconstructed 11th Century  Danish Costume (Part 1)
by Master Giles de  Laval
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CLOTHING/cl-Danish-11C-art.html
(Site  Excerpt) Full breeches gathered at the knee were a widespread fashion
in  Scandinavia and Russia, being documented by the Arab traveller   ibn
Rustah c950: "...full trousers of one hundred ells of fabric a pair,  and
when they put them on, they roll them up to the knees and fasten  them
there." Fragments of a pair such trousers were recovered from  Hedeby
harbour, and date to the 10th century.
SEE ALSO:
Hose and  Leggings-file, a collection of messages on the  subject
www.florilegium.org   click clothing onteh righthand  menu, then Hose and 
Leggings on the left
(Message Excerpt) The Period  fabric for hose which I am aware of is wool
flannel cut on the bias. Hose  were basically long stockings tied to either 
the braes
or the doublet  with points until about 1400 when the rising hemlines of the
doublet  required joined hose.
SEE  ALSO
Pants-msg
http://www.florilegium.org/files/CLOTHING/pants-msg.text
(Message  Excerpt) Janet Arnold in Patterns of Fashion, 16th century has 
several  examples of
garments from the 16th century with pockets. Most of them are  hidden in the
side seams, but the paned slops worn by Don Garcia, a pair of  venitians,
and all of the pluderhosen have pockets, done in several  different styles.

Regia Anglorum: Male Clothing (of the Anglo-Saxon and  Viking period)
http://members.regia.org/basclot3.htm
(Site Excerpt) Two  particular types of trousers are the Viking 'baggy'
trousers and 'Norman'  knee breeches (O.E. broc). Viking baggy trousers were
especially popular  with the Rus or Eastern Vikings. These are very full in
the upper leg,  often using several yards of fabric per leg, gathered into a
tight fitting  lower leg. A few were full right down to the ankle. Norman
knee breeches,  despite their name, were not worn exclusively by the Normans
, some of the  more 'fashion conscious' Saxon men would also have worn them
by the second  half of the eleventh century. They were actually a long pair
of very baggy  shorts reaching the knee or just below, and worn over a pair
of hose and a  short tunic.

A Brief History of  Hosiery
http://www.renaissancedancewear.com/hosiery.html
(Site Excerpt)  Although our modern interpretation of this pant-like garment 
is a separate  pair of "puff pants", "breeches", or "pumpkin pants", in 
Renaissance times  they were considered as part of the hose. Very short puffs 
were refered to  as trunk hose, popular in the early 1500s. Puffs that 
extended to the knee  were called canions, and those that extend beyond the 
knee called  venetians, both of which were popular from the mid 1500s to the  
1700s.

Midgard Basic Clothing Standards: Braes and  Trousers
http://www.larp.com/midgard/braies.htm
(Site Excerpt)  Scandanavians and possibly some Saxons wore trousers, which 
can be made  from the braies patterns.  Simply lengthen the legs and make 
them fit  your legs (snug, but not tight).  The waist can have a drawstring 
or  belt loops, and feet can be added from the hosen pattern.  If you only  
have trousers, they can be made to look more like hosen by adding  
crossgarters or winingas (leg wraps)--see the Hosen page for  details.