Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
Trousers, or pants in North American English, are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body, covering both legs separately rather than together as in skirts and dresses. Trousers are worn at the hips or waist and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt or suspenders. Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, usually a knit. Trousers, together with a shirt, are the standard clothing for men in many parts of the world, and trouser styles are characterized first by length, from full length to the top of the foot down to shorts stopping between the upper thigh and the knee.
Trousers (or "pants" in North American English) are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body and covering both legs separately (rather than together as in skirts and dresses). Trousers are worn at the hips or waist, and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders. Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, usually a knit. Trousers, together with a shirt, are the standard clothing for men in many parts of the world.
Trousers may be characterized by:
Trousers were introduced into European society at several points in history, but gained their current predominance only in the 16th century.
Some women and many young girls see trousers and shorts as being more practical and comfortable than skirts and dresses for most activities.It is customary in the western world for men to wear trousers and not skirts or dresses. However, there are exceptions such as the Scottish kilt and the Greek tsolias, which are worn on ceremonial occasions, as well as clothing such as cassocks etc of religious functionaries.
A very common type of strong, informal trousers made of thick blue cloth are blue jeans.
Among certain groups saggy, baggy pants exposing underwear are in fashion, e.g. among skaters, for whom it also provides more freedom of movement.
Cut-offs are homemade shorts made by cutting the legs off trousers.
The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/trousers). 11/1/04
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The definition's core, both legs separately, sounds obvious only because trousers won. For most of recorded dress in many cultures, lower-body clothing was a wrapped or skirted garment covering both legs together; bifurcated clothing spread with horse riding, labour and military life, where separate legs are a practical necessity. Once established, trousers became the most engineered everyday garment in the wardrobe: rise, waistband construction, fly front, pockets cut into the seams, creases pressed or deliberately absent, hems cuffed or plain, every element varied by fashion while the two-leg structure stays fixed.
Buyers navigate trousers by a small set of measurements and cuts: waist size and inside-leg length first, then rise, the distance from waistband to crotch seam, which decides where the trousers sit and how they feel, and leg shape, straight, tapered, flared, wide or skinny, which is where fashion operates. Children's trousers outgrown at the leg earn the old joke name floods, from trousers hiked up against flood water. Detachable-leg designs, hiking staples, acknowledge the same measurement problem from the other side: one garment, several lengths, chosen on the day.
They are the same garment with regional names: trousers in British and general usage, pants in North American English. In British English, pants can also mean underwear, which is why trousers is the unambiguous word in international catalogues.
Trousers are worn at the hips or waist and held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders (braces). Formal trousers are often made without belt loops and intended for braces, which keep the front flat under a waistcoat.
Full-length trousers run from the waist to the top of the foot. Shorts, the most common short form, stop anywhere from the upper thigh to the knee and are usually informal. Capris are women's pants ending mid-calf or just below the calf, and some trousers have detachable legs, usually with zippers, that convert between lengths.