Culottes

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Louis XVI, dressed in culottes Louis le dernier3 crop.jpg
Louis XVI, dressed in culottes
James Monroe, the last U.S. president who dressed according to the style of the late 18th century, with his Cabinet in 1823. The president wears knee breeches, while his secretaries wear long trousers. James Monroe Cabinet.jpg
James Monroe, the last U.S. president who dressed according to the style of the late 18th century, with his Cabinet in 1823. The president wears knee breeches, while his secretaries wear long trousers.

Culottes are an item of clothing worn on the lower half of the body. The term can refer to either split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's underpants; this is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, languages and cultures, then being used to describe different garments, often creating confusion among historians and readers. The French word culotte is (a pair of) panties, pants, knickers, trousers, shorts, or (historically) breeches; derived from the French word culot, meaning the lower half of a thing, the lower garment in this case.

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In English-speaking history culottes were originally the knee-breeches commonly worn by gentlemen of the European upper-classes from the late Middle Ages or Renaissance through the early 19th century. The style of tight trousers ending just below the knee was popularized in France during the reign of Henry III (1574–1589). [1] Culottes were normally closed and fastened about the leg, to the knee, by buttons, a strap and buckle, or a draw-string. During the French Revolution of 1789–1799, working-class revolutionaries were known as the " sans-culottes " literally, "without culottes" a name derived from their rejection of aristocratic apparel. [2]

In the United States, only the first five presidents, from George Washington (1732-1799) through James Monroe (1758-1831), wore culottes according to the style of the late 18th century. [3] [4] John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) wore long trousers instead of knee breeches at his inaugural ceremony in 1825, thus becoming the first president to have made the change of dress.

In military uniforms

European military uniforms incorporated culottes as a standard uniform article, the lower leg being covered by either stockings, leggings, or knee-high boots. Culottes were a common part of military uniforms during the European wars of the eighteenth-century (the Great Northern War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War, and the Revolutionary War).

Historical Japanese field workers and military samurai wore hakama that were sometimes tight at the bottom as French military culottes. Wider bifurcated wrap-skirt hakama were for horse-back riding. Eighteenth and nineteenth-century European women introduced culottes cut with a pattern looking like long hakama, hiding their legs while riding horses. Today Aikido and Kendo masters wear long hakama, to hide their feet from opponents.

Hassidic clothing

Jews in Poland wore culottes with high socks since around the 1800s. Culottes were abandoned among non-Hassidim in the mid-1900s [5] to early 20th century (due to upheavals in traditional Jewish life in those times), but ended up staying customary only among Hassidim, who continue to wear them today. However, culottes are not worn by Russian Hassidic sects, such as Karlin and Chabad. [6]

Different sects of Hassidim have different customs as to when and how they are worn, and whether and how unmarried men wear them on Shabbos and Jewish holidays, or if they wear them at all. [6]

Culottes for women

In modern English, the use of the word culottes can mean a close fitting pair of pants ending at the knees, [7] such as Lady Diana Spencer popularised during the early 1980s. The term is used as such in the United Kingdom and Canada. In this sense, culottes are similar to the American knickerbockers (knickers), except whereas the latter are loose in fit. Culottes can also, in some cases, describe a split or bifurcated skirt [8] or any garment which "hangs like a skirt, but is actually pants." [1] During the Victorian Era (mid- to late-nineteenth century European culture) long split skirts were developed for horseback riding so that women could sit astride a horse with a man's saddle rather than riding side-saddle. Horse-riding culottes for women were controversial because they were used to break a sexual taboo against women riding horses when they were expected to hide their lower limbs at all times. Later, split skirts were developed to provide women more freedom to do other activities as well, such as gardening, cleaning, bike riding, etc. and still look like one is wearing a skirt. [9]

School uniforms

Culottes are used in school uniforms for girls. They can be used along with skirts, or they may be used as a replacement for skirts. Culottes are worn as part of a uniform mainly to primary and middle schools. Culottes were also part of the uniform of UK Brownie Guides [10] up until recently, when the uniform was modernized and the traditional brown culottes (and the navy blue culottes worn by the Girl Guides) were replaced.

Demi-denims

Demi-denims Demi-denims FW18.jpg
Demi-denims

A cut which emerged in the 21st century – a combined silhouette of pants which appear to be made out of two separate garments. They look like slim fit jeans from behind, like a skirt or culottes worn on top of slim fit jeans – from the front. [11]

Contemporary French under-pants

The term "culottes" in French is now used to describe women's panties, an article of clothing that has little or no relation to the historic men's culotte breeches, except that in French, calling something "culottes" is like calling them "bottoms". The historical French term "sans-culottes" which was once the rejection of aristocrats' breeches, is now used colloquially to mean the same as an English colloquialism "going commando" or not wearing under-pants. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School uniforms in Japan</span> School uniforms used in Japan

The Japanese school uniform is modeled in appearance similar to that of the European-style naval uniforms. It was first used in Japan in the late 19th century, replacing the traditional kimono. Today, school uniforms are common in many of the Japanese public and private school systems. The Japanese word for this type of uniform is seifuku (制服).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tights</span> Heavy, opaque stockings woven in one with panties

Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concept of the American term pantyhose with sheer legs and opaque panty.

<i>Sans-culottes</i> Armed working class people defending the French Revolution

The sans-culottes were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the Ancien Régime. The word sans-culotte, which is opposed to "aristocrat", seems to have been used for the first time on 28 February 1791 by Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan in a derogatory sense, speaking about a "sans-culottes army". The word came into vogue during the demonstration of 20 June 1792.

<i>Hakama</i> Type of traditional Japanese trousers/skirt

Hakama are a type of traditional Japanese clothing. Originally stemming from , the trousers worn by members of the Chinese imperial court in the Sui and Tang dynasties, this style was adopted by the Japanese in the form of hakama in the 6th century. Hakama are tied at the waist and fall approximately to the ankles. They are worn over a kimono specially adapted for wearing hakama, known as a hakamashita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skirt</span> Clothing worn from the waist or hips

A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skort</span> Shorts made to look like a skirt

A skort is a pair of shorts with an overlapping fabric panel made to resemble a skirt covering the front and back, or a skirt with a pair of integral shorts hidden underneath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunic</span> Simple T-shaped or sleeveless garment, usually unfitted, of archaic origin

A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin tunica, the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome, which in turn was based on earlier Greek garments that covered wearers' waists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic school uniform</span>

A Catholic school uniform in North America typically consists of a pleated and tartan skirt or jumper dress, Mary Jane or saddle shoes, a button-down shirt, and a sweater for girls, while boys' uniforms consist of a button-down shirt, a necktie, and dark pants. Actual school uniforms vary widely by location and individual school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breeches</span> Clothing with coverings for each leg

Breeches are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. Formerly a standard item of Western men's clothing, they had fallen out of use by the mid-19th century in favour of trousers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hose (clothing)</span> Historical mens clothing for the legs and lower body

Hose are any of various styles of men's clothing for the legs and lower body, worn from the Middle Ages through the 17th century, when the style fell out of use in favour of breeches and stockings. The old plural form of "hose" was "hosen". In German these terms remained in use and are the generic terms for trousers today. The French equivalent was chausses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wide-leg jeans</span> Type of trousers

Wide-leg jeans, colloquially called baggy pants, are a style of clothing that were popular from the early 1980s to the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1750–1775 in Western fashion</span>

Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the Rococo artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodhpurs</span> Full-hipped riding trousers

Jodhpurs, in their modern form, are tight-fitting trousers to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horse riding. The term is also used as slang for a type of short riding boot, also called a paddock boot or a jodhpur boot, because they are worn with jodhpurs. According to Tara Mayer, "Jodhpurs … exemplify the material and cultural exchanges between Britain and its Indian colony in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knickerbockers (clothing)</span> Baggy-kneed breeches popular in the early 20th-century

Knickerbockers are a form of baggy-kneed breeches, particularly popular in the early 20th-century United States. Golfers' plus twos and plus fours are similar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justacorps</span> 17th century knee-length coat

A justacorps or justaucorps is a knee-length coat worn by men in the latter half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century. The garment is of French origin, and was introduced in England as a component of a three-piece ensemble, which also included breeches and a long vest or waistcoat. This ensemble served as the prototype of the frock coat, which in turn evolved into the modern-day three-piece suit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Men's skirts</span> Skirt-like garments worn by men and boys

Outside Western cultures, men's clothing commonly includes skirts and skirt-like garments; however, in the Americas and much of Europe, skirts are usually seen as feminine clothing and socially stigmatized for men and boys to wear, despite having done so for centuries. While there are exceptions, most notably the cassock and the kilt, these are not really considered 'skirts' in the typical sense of fashion wear; rather they are worn as cultural and vocational garments. People have variously attempted to promote the fashionable wearing of skirts by men in Western culture and to do away with this gender distinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harem pants</span> Baggy pants, fit to the ankle

Harem pants or harem trousers are baggy, long pants caught in at the ankle. Early on, the style was also called a harem skirt. The original so-called 'harem pants/skirts' were introduced to Western fashion by designers such as Paul Poiret around 1910, although they themselves were inspired by Middle East styles, and by şalvar. The term 'harem pants' subsequently became popular in the West as a generic term for baggy trousers caught in at the ankle that suggest the Turkish style, or similar styles such as bloomers, the South Asian shalwar and patiala salwar; the Bosnian dimije; sirwal ; and the Ukrainian sharovary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trousers</span> Clothing for the legs and lower body

Trousers, slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately. In the United Kingdom, the word pants generally means underwear and not trousers. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers" in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1775–1795 in Western fashion</span> Western fashion throughout the late 1700s

Fashion in the twenty years between 1775 and 1795 in Western culture became simpler and less elaborate. These changes were a result of emerging modern ideals of selfhood, the declining fashionability of highly elaborate Rococo styles, and the widespread embrace of the rationalistic or "classical" ideals of Enlightenment philosophes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku (trousers)</span> Traditional Chinese trousers

Ku or kuzi, collectively refers to the traditional Chinese trousers in Hanfu in the broad sense. Ku can also refer to the kaidangku, which are Chinese trousers without a rise as opposed to the trousers with a rise, referred as hedangku or kun in ancient times.

References

  1. 1 2 Calasibetta, Charlotte Mankey; Tortora, Phyllis (2010). The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion (PDF). New York: Fairchild Books. ISBN   978-1-56367-973-5 . Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  2. Soboul, Albert (1972). The Sans-Culottes: The Popular Movement and Revolutionary Government, 1793–1794. New York: Doubleday. pp. 2–3. ISBN   0-691-00782-9 . Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  3. Digital History, Steven Mintz. "Digital History". Digitalhistory.uh.edu. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  4. Whitcomb, John; Whitcomb, Claire (May 3, 2002). Real life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's most famous residence (1st Routledge pbk. ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0-415-93951-5 . Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  5. "YIVO | Dress". yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  6. 1 2 "Hassidim and their socks". Mi Yodeya. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  7. Calasibetta, Charlotte Mankey; Tortora, Phyllis (2010)The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion. New York: Fairchild Books: ISBN   978-1-56367-973-5.
  8. "WordNet Search - 3.0".[ dead link ]
  9. "Culottes Skirt is a Skort". www.apparelsearch.com.
  10. "Bedfordshire Guiding - History of Brownie Uniforms". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.
  11. Klerk, Amy de (March 2, 2017). "The most surprising micro-trend of 2017 has arrived". Harper's BAZAAR.
  12. "sans-culotte", Passons de la sans-soutif de l'Upper East Side à la sans-culotte de Times Square, And from no bra on the Upper East Side ... ... to no panties in Times Square.