Breeches

Breeches became popular around the late 16th century when monarchs from both France and England included breeches as fashionable dress for men at court. Like many garments and shoes throughout history, monarchs are the ones who were the trendsetters of their particular countries or empires. Breeches were usually made of silk, leather, wool cotton etc. When monarchs started wearing breeches so did the nobles and hence the rest of the populace. Breeches were a type of pants that was beholden to no particular class.

Wealthy nobles wore breeches at court and around town while the average man wore breeches to work and also for everyday wear. Breeches served a practical use throughout the centuries because it gave men a chance to show off their knee high socks and buckled belt heels. There was no point in sporting such socks and heels if no one was going to see them with a long pair of pants so breeches came in handy to show off shoes and heels. Breeches also gave men a chance to show off their calves which were considered very attractive to flustered ladies. Breeches also gave a chance for men to wear knee-high boots for fashion and for practical reasons such as day laboring and working out in the ship yards. Breeches started to all out of fashion around the mid-nineteenth century when heels and knee high stocks fell from popularity. Trousers eventually came to replace breeches in the early 1800s. As trousers and pants became more popular, so came shorter boots for men and by that point heels and knee high socks were lost by the mid-Victorian era.