Shakespearean Styles Compared To Leggings As Pants Look

I noticed a similarities between the women's fashion of wearing leggings with no pants, skirts, or shirts and the men's fashion from 1450 to 1500. Also, I think that I have new way of getting hosiery on the legs of the mainstream guys out there. If this sounds good to you, then read the remainder of this blog entry.

According to Wikipedia, the men's hosiery of the 1450 - 1500 time period was inspired by the previous time period's pants-like garment. If I were a betting man, then I would bet that the pants-like garments were more like skinny jeans, in that they did not stretch like our modern hosiery fabrics. As doublets grew shorter, the hosiery reacted, figuratively speaking, by becoming what we see in pictures.

From what I have seen in Vancouver, BC, many women wore yoga pants, just as regular casual pants. No skirts or long shirts were required to cover anything up. It seemed like a logical development to me, in that women like wearing skin tight clothing, and yoga pants are more comfortable than jeans, due to their stretch capabilities. The only difference is that yoga pants did not have pockets. That being said, often times, women's pants do not have pockets. When leggings came along, it was very common and almost required that they cover up their groin areas with shorts, skirts, a long shirt, or something like that. All of a sudden, somebody got the brilliant idea that she could wear leggings without any of those. She was probably inspired by outfits like Peg Bundy's. The thing about Peg Bundy's outfits is that they were more like pants, in that they were not very snug. In other words, they did not reveal the shape of a woman's crotch nor her butt cleavage. The first few women who tried this with modern leggings probably assumed that such revelations were small details that nobody cared about, and/or these first few women probably wanted to show off their stuff.

So, we can see that men and women started off with just pants or pants-like garments, and then became more revealing over time. I think that it is good to always to look into these things, so that we know the exact fashion that preceded the that particular fashion.

I noticed another interesting similarity between the hosiery of that time period and the leggings of today: the lack of pockets. That being said, in each case, the clothing might be comfortable, but it is not truly functional.

What will be the path to men in hosiery and shorts? I think that before we can make it common, it will have to be worn with recreational wear, because people tend to let their guard down when they are playing. As an example, think about how baseball caps are not just worn during sporting events. Perhaps men would wear hosiery with their team's colours to cheer the team on.

I think that I might try that. Perhaps I could find a forum, or a social community where people love to wear the local team's colours. I could post photos of me wearing the colours, and hosiery, and then share them with the fans. Perhaps that would inspire more men to wear it publically, without embracing the metrosexual fashion.

Stay tuned to see if I can do it.

If following the fashions through the centuries interests you, then scroll down to the bottom of the Wikipedia page, to see the list of time periods that you can view. Each page has nice photos and explanations.