DID YOU KNOW? We like to think that slim cut trousers are hip, modern and progressive, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Slim fit is actually more old-school than relaxed fit. Slim fit trousers, despite their slight aesthetic advantage to the comparatively more comfortable relaxed fit trousers, sarongs and kilts, are actually among worst things you can wear in summer due to their constricting nature and lack of ventilation. If anything,slim-fit trousers are a remnant of stiff and conservative Victorian mores. Contrary to what most people think, the conservative Victorian gentleman did not wear baggy pleated trousers - On the contrary, old-school Englishmen were known for their tight, hot and uncomfortable multi-layered clothing. Among these were slim tailored trousers, which was considered the only acceptable lower garment for a proper gentleman. The old-school UK Gentleman would have considered pleated regular fit trousers to be casual and effeminate, despite their comparative comfort to the more conventional slim fit straight leg trousers. The whole point of traditional English masculinity was to be on a completely different sphere from a woman - This was why the Victorian Dandies, despite their stereotype of being girly men, were actually very homophobic and ultra-masculine gentlemen who wanted to be refined and proper, yet completely distinguished from a woman. These men spent hours building up their muscles, and visited tailors, specifically requesting for their suits and trousers to be cut as tight as possible, so as to show off their hard-earned muscles. The most famous Dandy was the English gentleman Beau Brummell (1778-1840), who was known for wearing snug-fitted regimental trousers with dark fitted jackets as his daily uniform. Brummells rationale was that trousers simply emphasize the male physique better than skirts do, hence they look more masculine. The reason why we think it odd and disturbing when men wear make up, jewelry, loose and colorful outfits and skirts is because of Brummell - He deemed those things the mark of a Fop (p**f) Brummells homophobia stems from the fact that he spent some time in the conservative, pencil-straight British army was influenced by and its strict, rigidly policed masculinity. George IV highly admired Brummells mode of dress and philosophy on how a proper man should behave and dress, and made Brummells prescribed outfit the uniform of the British court, and this came to be known as the Suit. A famous example of a typical Dandy would be Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby - An buttoned-up, ultra-macho He-Man who appears refined and cultured on the surface, but is really a Neanderthal in a suit. In the 1920s, Western men were growing sick and tired of their fitted 3-piece suits and hot stuffy trousers, and began a movement for more comfortable summer clothing. Looser suit and trouser styles were introduced, and the old style of super-fitted menswear began to erode. Trouser legs became wider, with introduced pleats for freedom of movement. Gradually, the waistcoat fell out of fashion, and the short-sleeve shirt was invented. Older more conservative men continued to wear their slim-fitted 3-piece suits and slim, flat-front trousers for reasons of convention, but at the very least, the new style of looser, more sensible clothing for men was taking place in European culture. Brummell would have been horrified by this new movement, and he would have considered baggy hip hop trousers to be effeminate. If a stereotypical Ghettho rapper were to ask for Brummells opinion on his clothes, the latters response would perhaps be, Oh, MY WORD! It appears that you, Sir, are wearing a SKIRT! But the point is - We like to criticize people for wearing relaxed fit trousers and man skirts in public, but we need to ask ourselves - Why? Is it wrong to be comfortable? Or, are we, like the Victorians, so concerned with aesthetics and traditional notions of masculinity (i.e. powerful muscular physique), that we need men to be stiff, militaristic and rugged before we will consider them proper men?
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 03:10:56 +0000
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