Trousers

chanel women's bootsTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth stretching across both as in skirts and dresses). Such items of clothing are often referred to as pants in countries such as Canada, South Africa and the United States. Additional synonyms include slacks or breeches (sometimes pronounced ['br?t??z]. Historically, as for the West, trousers have been the standard lower-body clothing item for males since the 16th century; by the late 20th century, they had become prevalent for females as well. Trousers are worn at the hips or waist, and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and lycra.
Terminology

In North America, pants is the general category term, and trousers refers, often more formally, specifically to tailored garments with a waistband and (typically) belt-loops and a fly-front. For instance, informal elastic-waist knitted garments would never be called trousers in the U.S. Undergarments are called underwear, underpants, or panties (the last are women's garments specifically) to distinguish them from other pants that are worn on the outside. The term drawers normally refers to undergarments, but in some dialects, may be found as a synonym for reeches,that is, trousers. In these dialects, the term underdrawers is used for undergarments.

In Australia the terms pants and trousers are synonymous.

In most parts of the United Kingdom, trousers is the general category term, and pants refers to underwear. In some parts of Scotland, trousers are known as trews; taken from the early Middle English trouse, its plural developed into trousers.

Various people in the contemporary fashion industry use the word pant instead of pants. This is grammatically incorrect. The word pants is a plurale tantum, always in plural form much like the words scissors and tongs. The origin of pants is due to the use of two pieces of cloth in making it. Pant would actually mean just a single leg being covered with clothing.

Nomadic Eurasian horsemen such as the Iranian Scythians, along with Achaemenid Persians, were among the first to wear trousers.

In ancient China, trousers were only worn by soldiers.

Trousers were introduced into Western European culture at several points in history, but gained their current predominance only in the 16th century, from a Commedia dell'Arte character named Pantalone (Italian word for Trousers).[citation needed] In England in the Twelfth century, the rustic were often seen in long garments to the ankle, rather like trousers, which are really glorified braies. Strangely enough, trouserlike garments, which became rare again in the thirteenth century, vanished during the fourteenth century and scarcely reappeared for six hundred years. [2] The word itself is of Gaelic origin, from the Middle Irish word "triubhas" (close-fitting shorts).

Trousers trace their ancestry to the individual hose worn by men in the 15th century (which is why trousers are plural and not singular). 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 private parts, but as fashions changed and doublets became shorter, it became necessary for men to cover their genitals with a codpiece.

By the end of the 16th century, the codpiece had been incorporated into the hose, now usually called breeches, which were roughly knee-length and featured a fly or fall front opening.

chanel tall bootsDuring the French Revolution, the male citizens of France adopted a working-class costume including ankle-length trousers or pantaloons in place of the aristocratic knee-breeches. This style was introduced to England in the early 19th century, possibly by Beau Brummell, and supplanted breeches as fashionable street wear by mid-century. Breeches survived into the 1940s as the plus-fours or knickers worn for active sports and by young school-boys. Types of breeches are still worn today by baseball and football players.

Sailors may have played a role in the dissemination of trousers as a fashion around the world. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sailors wore baggy trousers known as galligaskins. Sailors were also the first to wear jeans -- trousers made of denim. These became more popular in the late 19th century in the American West, because of their ruggedness and durability.