Evening star., 1902-08-23

tailor: "If l can get into 'em l won't have
en- Probably he did not intend to be
taken too literally. But certainly the pam
falcons had grown to be an object of solici-
tude in the kingdom and bucks We'd with
each other to see who could wear the most
beautifully nodded ones.
Wellington and pants"
Still the beaus did not conquer easily or
soon The Duke of Wellington, who, in
his ducal capacity of beau and lover of
royalty had become one of the first of the
pantaloOn wearers, was turned away from
Almacks as late as 1914 because he insist
ed on appearing in pantaloons.
Another time the lady patronesses of the
assemblies at Almacks were much eXer-
cised. They had planned an elaborate re-
ception and ball, and were determined that
it should not be desecrated by the presence
OF bucks in pantalOons. Yet they knew full
well that the Duke of Wellington would
insist wearing the beloved garments.
They could not dare offend him, for al
though Wellington had not then become
the object of popular worship that he was
later, after defeating Napoleon at Water
loo, yet he was the hero of Seringapatain
and of the peninsula and a mighty leader
Of fashion to boot
So the lady patronesses were m despair;
they could not and would not yield on the
subject of pantaioOnS, yet they could not
afford to risk offending the duke. IN this
juncture a bright wit suggested that the
invitation contain the following clause:
Gentlemen are expected to wear small
clothes and silk stockings, but any gentle
man who is conscious that his figure is not
adapted to that costume may wear panta
looms"
With the exception of Wellington and
two other daring beaus. all the gentlemen
who attended the reception wore small
clothes.
Gilray and other cartoonists of the period
made savage fun of the new mode They
ny1yaI hon with linn oil md
thin legs and beaus with inordinately short
and fat legs. They depicted men with
limbs like trees and with limbs like COM
pass dividers. In every aspect the panta
looms were depicted as unesthetic, vulgar
and uncomfortable. Artists refused to
paint their patrons in them Women ridi-
culed the wearerS of them.
Yet the net result of all the warfare was
that by 1870 pantaloonS were worn by al
most everybody, except the delightful old
fashioned persons who stalk so pleasantly
through the pages of Dickens and Thacke-
ray in their knee breeches and bag wigs.
Pantaloons in America.
In 1927 pantaloons were so generally
worn in the United States that scientific
method Of draughting patterns for them
was introduced. 1t was originated and
printed by Otis Madison and second edi-
ton was published in 1929. Its title was
"a New System of Delineating, Founded
on True Principles and Containing Iitho-
graphic Charts of all Different Garments"
The patterns for the pantaioons in this
work look utterly unlike anything that
possibly could be worn by any creature in
the shape of man.
]. o. Madison, son of Otis Madison, saws
that the American tailors of that time
were not merely mechanics, but had an
acute sense of art. Their leading principle
as expressed in the book was that to be
fashionable a garment must be so made
that it cannot be eXcelled for neatness of
style, beauty, or workmanship in any part
of the world.
Trousers and pantaIoons." said Mr..
Madison. in the American Tailor and Cut
ter, some time ago, ARE comparatively
modern garments as are knee breeches,
though they preceded the former by many
years. Before the advent of knee breeches
that is, breeches that extend from the
waist to the knees and were secured there
by buttons, buckles or ribbons-a very
short garment, slashed and puffed, was
worn by royalty. the aristocracy, the rich.
the nobility and patriCians, that merely
covered the lower part of the trunk, Ieav-
ing the whole thigh to be covered with
very long stockings
Although the 'pantaloon" is older than
the present trousers" yet the word
trousers was used for all sorts of leg
coverings centuries ago. The name ap-
pears in wardrobe accounts of the reign of
King Henry VIII, making that monarch
noteworthy for one other matter besides
a taste for collecting wives.
Elizabethiai1 Breeches.
In ElZabeth's time the word ''breeches''
became common. The name came from the
word ''braccae," which was used to de-
scribe long, full bags gathered at the an
kles. In the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy in Dublin there Is a pair of
trousers of great antiquity. These trous-
ers are grandly checkered. showing that
this favorite English fashion is hallowed
by age.
In 1892 the trousers, or knee breeches,