Pants - and why they are important

Pants.

I am writing about pants because they are an essential part of our clothing, and because they are not only practical, but they have social and sexual significance.

Pants were first worn in 798 by the Roman Emperor Claudius who declared that,

“Pants keep you warm and happy”

They came over to this country in the middle ages and were sold by knickerhawkers whose cry of

“Get em off, get em on, hot today”

could be heard throughout the streets of old London.

Pants first started to be viewed as naughty when the artist Manet exhibited his work, Pants sur l’herbe in 1863.

Then a man called Sebastian Knickerbocker opened the first lingerie shop in St James’, London.

By the 1960’s skimpy pants were on sale everywhere.

Later in that decade Germaine Greer was writing her seminal book, “The Pants of Destiny” which is seen as a feminist perspective on pants as a paradigm of gender.

Rallies were held in which the cry of “Burn your pants” came into usage.

And what of Pants today? Pants can be bought at supermarkets and worn normally. A popular song declares:-

You need pants to make your bottom cosy.

You need pants to keep your trousers clean

And when you do a dance

You most certainly need pants

So that your naughty bits cannot be seen

(cannot be seen)

(Ivor Novello “You need Pants” copyright the estate of Ivor Novello 1933)