trousers, circa?

[DWFII]

This is only peripherally related to kilts but it is related. I know there are some people who post to this sub-forum who are bone fide historians and others who are so well versed as to virtually make no difference.

I am wondering when trousers were first introduced in western society (or any society). It has always been my assumption that the leine (sp?) pre-dates trousers and from that I kind of assumed that the kilt might also.

thoughts?

[JSFMACLJR]

My tailors, Meyer and Mortimer, on Sackville Street in London, were the tailors of Beau Brummell. They made his trousers, and it was Brummell, I am told, who popularized this innovative fashion and made them all the rage.

[DWFII]

My tailors, Meyer and Mortimer, on Sackville Street in London, were the tailors of Beau Brummell. They made his trousers, and it was Brummell, I am told, who popularized this innovative fashion and made them all the rage.

Thanks for taking the time...

Is that the first occurrence of trousers? And what is the date?

What was worn before that?

I am thinking trews and trousers are somewhat contemporaneous...??

[JSFMACLJR]

Breeches were worn before this. Brummell lived in the late 18th century and early 19th.

Remember, trews in their original form, are not really trousers like we know them. They were more like breeches and were skin tight. Interestingly enough, the same firm that made Beau Brummell's trousers recently made a pair of REAL trews for a friend of mine, cut on the bias of course. I have yet to see the finished result, but I have been assured that they are beautiful and will make quite a splash at the Oban Ball.

[Raphael]

This thread has no business in the kilt section. It should be posted in the off topic.

[Nick]

The Vikings wore trousers. Do you mean trousers in the modern cut or bifurcated garments?

[Pleater]

Trousers, the long form, were indicative of poverty as they covered a lack of (expensive) stockings and shoes as would be worn with britches.

If you were derided as a 'sans culotte' it did not mean that you had nothing to cover the lower limbs, but that they were covered in a manner indicating a low position in society.

Anne the Pleater

[Panache]

I have moved this thread to the "Off Topic" forum.

Cheers

Jamie

[piperdbh]

To answer the original question,

1976.

(That's when I was born, you know. Nothing existed before then.)

[Bigkahuna]

Trousers were worn by British troops and sailors during and possible prior to the American Revolution. Usually they were worn as fatigues or as a replacement for worn out breeches.