It Took Approximately Four Decades for Pant Suits to Become Accepted in Society

By JenengS Sunday, September 22, 2019

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Pant suits are adress style that has been on the cards for women since the mid sixties and forwhich all women are very thankful. The first type of pants ever worn by women,were bloomers.

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Bloomers were adopted by Amelia JenksBloomer, of New York,who worn them as a sign of rebellion in eighteen-fifty. They were also adoptedby ladies in the first liberation groups, such as the suffragettes, and sporty women in the eighteen-sixties, butthis craze did not catch on. Pant suitsdid not make their appearance about a century later, in the nineteen-sixties.

Althoughbloomers did not catch on, they were the inspiration for knickerbockers, which wasthe first concession made by the fashion industry, allowing women toparticipate in the bicycling that they were so fond of. Bicycling hadpreviously been seen to be too unladylike for women, as they could not do itcomfortably and in a ladylike fashion wearing dresses. Basically the fashionistashad to cave in, as women were not going to give up cycling because it gave thema new sense of freedom and self-sufficiency. Due to this, knickerbockersremained a craze during the 1880s and 1890s.

Inthe nineteen-twenties, Coco Chanel started a fashion trend of wearing anddesigning clothing for women that was much more form-fitting. She loveddressing in masculine slacks or trousers made of twill herself. Some actressesthat also took to this manly style are Katherine Hepburn andMarlene Dietrich. Mademoiselle Chanel, as she was referred to, even designed a verymasculine trouser suit for women in 1933, but once again the mainstream did nottake to pant suits as a fashiontrend.

WomensFashion had definitely taken a huge step in being designed more for comfort andeasy mobility in the twenties, though, and there was no turning back from thatdesign revolution. Other designers started to become more daring in theirdesigns, but still mainly kept to the very feminine, flowing designs. The littleblack dress or cocktail dressmade famous by Coco Chanel is stilla staple in every womans wardrobe today! Designers continued trying to introduceslacks, or pants for women over the years, but never really got very far.

Thewearing of pants had been outlawed or at least sneered at, by Society, untilWorld War II, when women had to work in the factories. This was very difficultto do in dresses, so trousers and overalls became de rigeuer for women to wear to work. This did not carry over tooutside of the work, though.

Pant suits were re-introducedin the 1960s by Andr Courrgeswho was also responsible for thebikini, but they were only really made acceptable when Yves Saint Laurent designed his famous androgynous style Le Smokingtuxedo suit for women in 1966. Strangely enough, though, although trousersuits were accepted as informal wear, and even evening wear, for women in thelate 60s, it took another decade or three until they were accepted as suitableattire to be worn in the work-place.

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