businessman's legs in classic suit and shoes on wooden floor

Trousers: Extraordinary Ordinary Things

Ubiquity is dedicated to helping computing professionals and informed laymen better imagine and understand the future of computing. Extraordinary Ordinary Things is dedicated to bringing to mind truly world-transforming things that have become so embedded in daily life that we scarcely even notice them.

These two ideas may seem to be rather far apart, if not incongruous. In reality, they are quite close together, almost like conjoined twins. Computers today underlie virtually everything that makes up the modern world, either directly, but most often indirectly, by how they permit commercial, cultural, and scientific ideas to be converted into life-altering products and services.

When I was a child growing up in Los Angeles in the 1940s, a sure sign that I had passed an important milestone in my development was when I was allowed to “put on big-boy pants.”

A couple of things need to be said about this declaration. First, this was a rite of passage for young males; in general young females did not wear pants. Second, if you are more familiar with British English than with American English, you may be puzzled about why boys wore pants and girls didn’t. What you need to know is that in the U.S., the word pants is equivalent to “trousers” whereas in the U.K. pants generally means “underpants.”

In the first half of the 20th century, girls or women wearing trousers were generally looked upon as somewhat unusual except for specialized activities such as horseback riding (riding breeches).

The history of trousers is rich with cultural, political, and social nuances, dating back virtually to the dawn of time. Their expanding use over the centuries, nay millennia, has been truly remarkable. I, therefore, believe trousers, in all their many variations, eminently deserve a place on the list of what I like to call “extraordinary ordinary things.”

How Trousers Won Over the World

For thousands of years, during mankind’s prehistoric period, people clothed themselves (if they bothered to clothe themselves) with wrap-around garments. At first, these were very simple garments that literally wrapped around the body. Later, more “fashionable” garments, generally called togas, were developed.

No one is certain when trousers were first used somewhere in the world. However, in Western cultures, the reason for devising trousers seems clear. It was not for the sake of fashion; rather it was that they were required by the military.

What prompted trousers to become a weapon of war?

Before unraveling this puzzle, it is first necessary to define what is meant by trousers and how they differ from the garments they replaced, at least by men on horseback.

Trousers are generally considered to be a piece of clothing that covers each of the wearer’s legs individually, rather than wrapping around the entire lower body. However, this is not enough because this definition would fit what modern cowboys would call “chaps,” which cover only the legs but not the rest of the lower body.

In the clothing industry, trousers are technically a piece of clothing that consists of two-cylinder-shaped parts, one for each leg, and joined at the waist. The definition does not require that the cylinder-shaped parts (“trouser legs”)  descend all the way to the feet; however, in general, they descend to at least below the knees. Trousers that stop above the knees would much more commonly be called “shorts.”

So back to the puzzle: How did trousers become a weapon of war?

The first recorded reports of trousers in the Western world were made in the sixth century BCE by Greek geographers who had seen them being used by horsemen in Persia, and Eastern and Central Asia. In other words, trousers were adopted in the West, but not created there.

Trousers seem to have been invented in these other parts of the world because wrap-around garments are uncomfortable to wear on horseback. However, the key to their adoption in the West was that military leaders had determined that in battle soldiers on horseback wearing trousers had a palpable advantage over those wearing togas and other forms of open, flowing robes. For this reason, civilizations all over the world adopted this form of military dress.

In the military, trousers were generally loose-fitting garments that closed at the ankles. Outside of the military, the Ancient Greeks generally snubbed trousers, finding them to be ridiculous. They even went so far as to nickname them thulakos,  meaning “sacks.” The Romans, who held the Greeks in high esteem, also rebuffed trousers, considering them to be garments worn by barbarians. After all, they did originate in the East. However, as the Roman Empire spread around the world, trousers gained in popularity because their warmth (togas can be drafty) and convenience overcame this cultural bias.

By the 8th century CE, trousers consisting of two layers had become fashionable in Europe, especially among upper-class males. The underneath layer eventually became known as “drawers.. Although perhaps less confusing than the word “pants” (underpants, trousers), it should be noted that in modern parlance, the word “drawers” can also mean underpants.

Over the centuries, trousers have varied in shape and social appreciation.

For example, in the late 14th century, early baggy (loose-fitting) trousers morphed into tight-fitting garments with attached foot coverings. By the beginning of the 16th century, the fashion had reversed, and then some. Not simply loose-fitting, trousers had become eye-poppingly voluminous. Also as a fashion statement, they were being made from ornate cloth, with purposely built-in slashes to reveal the colorful lining (drawers) underneath.

In the West, trousers had become so socially acceptable as to be associated with modernity and civilization itself. Thus, in 1701 Tsar Peter the Great of Russia decreed every Russian man must wear trousers, the only exceptions being peasant farmers and the clergy.

The fashion pendulum swung back and forth several times before the emergence of the trousers we know today. In large measure, this was due to Edward VII, eldest son of Queen Victoria. Among other things, he promoted trousers with a creased trouser leg to help them hold their shape.                             

Author's note: Trousers and loincloths
Is the loincloth a precursor to trousers? Well yes and no, mainly no. The purpose of the loincloth was to cover male genitals (and perhaps the buttocks) in ancient societies where genital exposure was considered unacceptable. Generally, loincloths were the only garments men wore. It is postulated that the appearance of trousers did not sound the death knell for loincloths but rather their evolution into underpants. Trousers obviated the problem of genital exposure, but not the problem of discomfort of trousers abrasively rubbing this very sensitive part of the male anatomy. Underpants did. 

Why Trousers are Plural

If you have never thought about it (I presume that by now you have), you may be wondering why the words “trousers” and “pants” are plural and why we say “a pair of trousers” or “a pair of pants”.

One proposed reason is based on a misunderstanding. Linguistically, the word trouser derives from the old Irish word “triubhas”, which was singular and referred to close-fitting shorts. The “s” at the end led people to assume that the word was plural, thus leading to trousers being plural.

Another proposed reason comes out of Scotland. There, trousers are sometimes known as “trews,” which is believed to be the historical root of the word trousers, the “s” at the end suggesting a plural.

However, there is a simpler and perhaps more plausible explanation. Trousers (pants) are distinguished by the fact that they have two essential parts which are not found on skits, kilts, togas, and other such garments. That is, they provide a covering for each leg individually, i.e. two legs, and thus plural. 

The idea of two essential parts of an object giving a plural identity is not confined to trousers. The same is true of (eye)glasses, where it is common to say “glasses are” and “a pair of glasses,” “scissors are” and “a pair of scissors,” “pliers are” and “a pair of pliers,” “tweezers are” and “a pair of tweezers,” etc.

Women and Trousers

Despite being worn by both men and women in ancient times, especially in the East, in the West trousers were a “masculine” garment for hundreds of years. Instead, women wore dresses or long, voluminous skirts. However beginning in the 19th century, women in the West also began wearing a form of trousers. These were worn only for horseback riding and were concealed under full skirts to maintain the appearance of feminity.

In the later part of the century, around the 1880s, new kinds of bicycles were making cycling an everyday activity, which women eagerly took up. Again, trousers were de rigueur, and again trousers worn by women for cycling were feminized into wide, loose-fitting garments called bloomers to distinguish them from the slimmer, narrow-fitting trousers worn by men. And yes, ”bloomers” can also mean ”underpants.”

It is interesting to note that many women took up cycling not only as a form of recreation but also as a step towards greater social freedom. Until then, whenever a woman wanted to go any distance, she almost always had to be accompanied by a man. The bicycle allowed them to cover greater and greater distances alone. This was not a minor change in social mores. In fact, in 1896 pioneering American social reformer and women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony declared: “The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.”

Nevertheless, except for horseback riding and cycling, women wearing trousers were considered to be violating social norms. Women in the public eye who dared to wear trousers almost always caused a scandal. For example, in the 1930s actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn, both caused outrage by wearing trousers in some of their films. In 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), set tongues wagging when she first wore trousers.

In the 1960s, French couturier André Courrèges helped introduce the pantsuit, which was met with mixed emotions and sometimes virulent hostility. Some official bodies put up fierce resistance to their female members wearing pantsuits. For example; women were not allowed to wear trousers on the floor of the United States Senate until 1993. In that year Senators Babara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun wore trousers onto the floor in defiance of the rule, with female support staff following on soon after. In late 1993 the rule was amended by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to permit women to wear trousers on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.

Nevertheless, despite their increasing popularity, trousers were not considered acceptable attire for women until the 1970s. However, not entirely. There were (and still are) pockets of resistance. For example:

  • Until 2004, the International Skating Union prohibited women from wearing trousers instead of skirts in competition.
  • In 2013, a bylaw requiring women in Paris to ask permission from city authorities before “dressing as men” was overturned. The bylaw had been in effect since 1800 and prohibited women from wearing trousers except for those “holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.”
  • In 2013, Turkey’s parliament ended a ban on women lawmakers wearing trousers in its assembly.
  • From 1991–2019, Sudanese women were prohibited from wearing  “obscene outfits” in public, including trousers. Violation of the law was punishable by up to 40 lashes.
  • In 2017, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) announced its female employees could wear “professional pantsuits and dress slacks” while at work instead of dresses and skirts. However, this was not the end of the matter. In 2018, the church clarified the ruling by announcing that while their female missionaries could wear dress slacks, they were prohibited from doing so when attending the temple and during Sunday worship services, baptismal services, and mission leadership and zone conferences.
Another author’s note: Dress codes for women have long been contentious in religions, the three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) perhaps being the most notable, but in other religions as well. Religious dress codes for women are generally formulated in furtherance of two guiding principles.

  1. Women should not dress like men because they were created to be complementary, not competitive. For centuries, trousers for centuries were considered to be distinctly masculine.
  2. Women should not flaunt their sexuality. Trousers show off a female's curves, inviting impure thoughts in males.
There is a hierarchy between the two principles, with the second one taking first place. Or as so tunefully put in the hit Broadway musical comedy “The King and I” (Rogers and Hammerstein, 1951):

"A girl must be like a blossom
With honey for just one man.
A man must live like honey bee
And gather all he can.
To fly from blossom to blossom
A honey bee must be free,
But blossom must not ever fly
From bee to bee to bee."

Idiomatic Expressions

Trousers (pants) have given rise to a plethora of idiomatic expressions. Here are some of the most popular.

  • All mouth and no trousers

Full of boastful, arrogant, or shallow talk, usually by a male. It is heard primarily in the U.K. and elsewhere where British English is spoken. An equivalent American version “all mouth land no pants” does not really exist. Somewhat puzzlingly, the variant expression “all mouth and trousers” without the word “no” means the same thing as it does with the word “no.”

  • Put one’s trousers (pants) on one leg at a time

To be an ordinary human being. Used especially with regard to someone who is of an elevated social status such as a cinema celebrity, star athlete, member of royalty, etc. Example: “Yes, she is probably the best ballerina that ever graced a stage, but she still puts her trousers on one leg at a time.”

  • Beat the pants off someone

Score a major victory. Example: “The speaker was considered to be one of the best speakers in the world, but his opponent beat the pants off of him.”

  • Keep one’s pants on

Be calm, be patient, don’t be in such a rush.Hey, keep your pants on. We will be there soon.”

  • Fly by the seat of one’s pants

Make decisions as one goes; do something without any plan or forethought. The expression comes from the early days of aviation when pioneering fliers had neither reliable navigation equipment nor radios to communicate with the ground. “When she lost her notes just before giving her speech, she had no choice but to fly by the seat of her pants.”

  • Fancy pants

Overly refined or elegant; acting above one’s station. Usually used pejoratively, as “Look at him showing off his expensive new watch. A real fancy pants.”

  • To be a smarty pants

To flaunt one’s knowledge. Example: “What a smarty pants. You think you’ve got all the answers. Well, you don’t. You’re fired.”

  • Caught with one’s trousers (pants) down

To be taken by surprise; caught in a vulnerable, embarrassing, or compromising situation. The American version would be “caught with one’s pants down.” The origin of the expression is unclear. Its sexual implications are evident; however, the true origin may be military. Even in the heat of battle, calls of nature cannot forever be ignored. So during a battle, a soldier caught with their pants down could be seriously compromised

Quotations about Trousers

You can often gain unexpected insights into a topic by looking at what people say about it. Here are several pithy quotations about trousers that prove the point.

“The first sign of extravagance is to buy trousers that one does not need.”—George Ade

“What would you say if men changed the length of their trousers every year?”—Nancy Astor

“The existence of trousers proves that God meant us to be bipeds.”—David C. H. Austin

“Those from whom nature has withheld taste invented trousers.”—Jean Antheline Brilat-Savarin

“A most excellent man, though I could have wished his trousers not quite so tight in some places and not quite so loose in others.”—Charles Dickens

“Civilized men arrive in the Pacific, armed with alcohol, syphilis, trousers, and the Bible.”—Havelock Ellis

“You gotta wear the right trousers if you’re going to be a rock star.—Chris Martin

“Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers.” —Austin O’Malley

“No, I have never wanted to be a man. I have often wanted to be more effective as a woman, but I have never felt that trousers would do the trick.”—Eleanor Roosevelt

“I never weigh myself. But if I put my trousers on and they don’t do up, then I don’t eat until I can.”—Charlie Watts

[Excellent advice. I never weigh myself; however, I have a special pair of trousers that fit quite snuggly. Whenever I put them on, if they fit too snugly I know it is time to take off a bit of weight. My weight hasn’t varied more than 2–3 kilos (4.5–6.5 pounds) for decades.]

“A pair of brilliantly cut cotton trousers can be more beautiful than a gorgeous silk gown.”—Yohji Yamamoto

Trousers and Computers

As noted at the beginning of this essay, the design, production, distribution, and sale of virtually all mass-produced products involve the use of computers all along the supply chain. The way computers are used at these different stages can be highly complex, depending on the nature of the product and the nature of the end users (purchasers). Trousers represent only a very small part of the vastly larger clothing (garment) industry. Nevertheless, detailing specific applications of computers even to this minuscule segment of the industry would take pages and pages. However, to get some idea, here is a very brief overview of the use of computers in the clothing industry as a whole.  It is possible to do so by dividing the process into three broad steps prior to finished garments entering the distribution marketing, and sales phases.

  • Fabric manufacture

In contrast with the not-so-distant past, today’s clothing is offered with an almost endless variety of motifs, e.g. ethnic, floral, geometric, abstract, plaids, checks, polka dots, etc., which is already a challenge. This is complicated by the fact that their use differs from location to location around the world. Computers are essential in keeping up with these complex and ever-proliferating global trends.

  • Garment design

Computer plays a crucial role in converting the ideas of garment designers into real products. As explained by one industry expert, “The process of designing begins with brainstorming sessions like preparing virtual color board, theme board, design board, etc. These boards are easy to edit on software as compared to papers and colors. In virtual design, we can carry out real-time correction before producing the final out. Currently, designers are using various software such as  Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, In Design, Corel Draw, and Poser to come up with more creative designs.”

  • Garment production

Once a garment has been painstakingly designed, to be of any value it obviously must be produced. In the days of yore, production generally meant entrusting a new garment design to individual tailors to produce individually for sale to customers. As mechanization improved, e.g. faster, sturdier, more versatile sewing machines, tailors could offer their output at lower prices, thus stimulating market demand among the majority of people who previously could not afford professionally tailored garments. Subsequently, the industry entered the mass production phase, where quality professionally produced garments became available to everyone. It is still in the mass production phase, but how mass production is carried out has radically changed. No longer are machines operated by an individual worker or groups of workers. Today, production is largely automatic, guided by computers with highly specific, task-specific software programs.