A brief history of pants

Underwear. Knickers. Pants. Undies. Call them what you will, they’ve been around for a long time. To celebrate the countdown to Pants in the Park, we’ve delved into the top drawer of undergarments to bring you a brief history (sorry) of pants.

To witness the birthplace of the first pair of pants, our journey begins in the Stone Age. Tired of feeling the effects of a cool breeze, Stone Age men and women took to wrapping animal skins around their loins to keep warm and to have something to hang in their wardrobe. The path to Mary Portas had begun.

Nice pants Thak!

It took the Romans (no surprise there) to take pants design to the next stage. Ancient Romans (this refers to the time period and is not us being ageist) created a leather undergarment called a subligaculum, which could be either a pair of shorts or a cloth wrapped around the lower body. Men and women both wore subligacula, with women also wearing a strophium – a leather band worn across the chest. The first billboard advert for strophium – ‘Hello Gladiators’ – was quite controversial and lasted only a few days before being taken down as it was causing too many chariot crashes.

4th Century AD mosaic found near the ancient Roman Villa del Casale in Sicily, M Disdero 2006

Fast forward to the Middle Ages and underwear had taken a bit of a backseat. Men were sporting the latest in undergarment design called a braise, which was the 6^th Century equivalent of a pair of M&S spotted boxer shorts. Women on the other hand had eschewed the notion of pants completely, and wore nothing but a long linen garment called a shift under their dress. In fact it wasn’t until the 19^th Century that women started wearing pants again!

From the 19^th Century, pants started to take shape as we know them today, although there were a few wacky designs along the way: long pants, short pants and event pants that came in two parts (hence the fact that pants are pairs).

The name pants came from the shortening of pantaloons, a type of baggy underwear that went from your waist all the way down to your ankles. Pantaloons were named after a fictitious character in a number of Italian plays from the 16^th Century called Pantalone. Pantalone was famous for wearing garments that went down all the way to his ankles (like tights).  At the time, most men wore garments that stopped at the knee, so Pantalone stuck out like a sore thumb. Pantalone was forever associated with this particular attire, so when people started wearing long underwear, they called them pantaloons (a dubious honour in our book only matched by Mr Thomas Crapper).

Pantalone wearing his dashing pantaloons (not arriving in a shop near you any time soon)

 

Whatever pants you decide to wear outside your clothes at Pants in the Park, we look forward to seeing you there. It’s going to be bloomin’ marvellous!