Trousers

[sumar]

I know it sounds like a daft question, but does anyone know when trousers were first invented? (invented is probably not the right word, but you know what I mean).
Did someone think them up, or was it gradual for the sake of comfort or convenience? I watch historical programmes on the tv and the first thing I look at is whether anyone is wearing something close to trousers in any particular era.
I'm presuming this is the correct place to put this question but maybe it should go in fashion! Anywa I'll give this a go first.
Thank you, Sue.

[mccfluff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousers

some info here

[tamborine]

Beau Brummell, 16thc....there was a film on him on History channel recently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Brummell

[Old_Geezer]

They must have been invented. I've not discovered any forming in the wild, yet.

[Mosaic]

The notion of covering your legs in tubes of fabric or leather is very ancient - remains of people from about 30,000 years ago excavated in Russia seem to have been wearing leg coverings a para-type tops.
But the way they fasten together at the top, and how they are opened and shut for convenience, can be linked to specific fashions and times. For example theusers worn by american Indians were not sewn together at the top, just attached to a waist tie. The skinny or flowing trousers worn in the middle ages - up to about 1600 - were laced up the front like shoes, hence the need for a 'codpiece' to keep a chap's modesty intact.

By the end of the 1700's the front opening was a wide flap buttoned at both sides - it would open rather like a flap.
The opening type of trousers as we know them emerged by the 1850s, and the only change since has been the replacement of buttons by zips.

[Waye]

Check out Levi.
Levi got a lot out of a pair of trouser legs,
Hard playing, Hard working and Long lasting.
Levi Strauss i think came up with this idea of,
comfortable in Denim Blue dyed jeans,
or trouser legs i think.

[Waye]

Thanks for that information Mosaic

[Mosaic]

Waye, I think blue cloth from Nimes - 'de nimes' = denim -was used for workg clothes long before Levi Strauss started riveting pocket seams to make them less likely to tear.

[Waye]

Mosaic,
yes, the blue cloth from Nimes (de-nimes)
I have always been the owner of denims and worn them over the years,
but not since Levi Strauss or from de Nimes

[Mosaic]

Can I have a pint of what you'e on Waye?

[dave50]

Also on the same subject, why, in general do men wear trousers and women wear skirts?

[boxtops]

Modesty (originally) - the traditional long skirt hides the legs and other bits, that's why women wore skirts. Also, it's easier to wee in a skirt.

[Mosaic]

It is purely the conventions of different times and places. Scots men may get away with wearing skirts today, but various discriminatory laws have made it virtually impossible for a modern english chap to wear a wafty long frock if the mood takes him.
Similarly, permission to display legs rather than cloaking them in long skirts was denied to women in Britain until the 20th century.

[boxtops]

Don't forget that the Victorians used to cover up chair and piano legs, because nice people thought legs were rude.

[Waye]

Two capsules of Solagran ( Bioeffective A )
one at Breakfast and one at Dinner
http://www.pineneedleproducts.com
have a look at the Siberian Red, have just received a bottle,
for dosage of 4mm in 1 litre water per day.
I do like the red wine, a few glasses at dinner, or
a Coopers Ale on Occasion,and the dog gets me out for the walk on the beach at Victor Harbor

[Old_Geezer]

There see ? More discrimination. Still Demis Roussos managed to get away with it.

[Mosaic]

But you can't tell what Demis had on under the khaftan....might have been Levi's....

[whiskeryron]

LOL to Waye, a chap after my own heart.

Ron.

[atalanta]

Otzi, the iceman, was found mummified in icy mountains.. He was wearing leggings. He is reckoned to be 5,000 years old.

[jno]

in ancient times I think people in the north wore leg coverings because it was cold; those further south didn't need to. Those who rode horses (ancient Persians and so on) seem to have found them useful too.

[owdhamer]

It was a chap called Burton, wasn't it?