kilt history question

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Hello All,

An acquaintance of mine is doing her PhD on this very subject. That is to say the history of garments and dress and why men wear trousers and women wear skirts and dresses. Her argument is that the anatomy of men and women is different and as such we are (in general) all wearing the wrong garments - men have dangly bits and should be in a wrap around garment; women do not and should be in trousers.

She believes that there was some cataclysmic event which caused a domino effect and forced men into long hose and then trousers. She tells me that she has eliminated war and warfare and is now looking at religion or some form of pandemic to be the cause. It seems that the heart of the matter comes down to western education, which in turn points to religion.

When she next comes down to eat me out of house and home I will pump her for more information.

Regards

Chas

One thoery that I think has a lot of merit traces the fashion of men's bifurcated garments to the rise of equestrianism in Europe. Simply put, trousers make life easier for men who spend a lot of time on horseback.

This was first brought to my attention in school when studying ancient Roman culture. The male slaves wore pants, while the upper class wore tunics and togas. Why? While the upper class rode in chariots, their servants actually rode their horses.

When the Romans first encountered the British Celts, one of their signs of "barbarism" was the fact that they wore pants. In the Roman mind, that fashion was assosiated with the lower classes. But it had no such stigma in Celtic society.

Later on, as Europe entered the age of the chevelier and equestrian skill became an important aspect of life for all levels of nobility, wearing pants became the fashion norm for even the upper classes.

Some remote or isolated parts of Europe, where horsemanship never became such a vital part of the social order (such as the Highland and Island regions Scotland), had their male fashion evolve along different lines. Hence we see the kilt rise out of that society, and not in France or England.