Victorian Pants

Victorian pants, or trousers, were very much different than pants of today. There were no belt loops so all trousers were supported by suspenders over the shoulders. Victorian pants were sometimes striped or worn in a checker pattern. Because Victorian pants came in different decorations, it gave men a chance to stand out from the everyday crowd with their own designs. It may seem mismatched to us, but it made for quite a sight for Victorians who sought make their own individual fashion statements. The wealthy could have custom pants made to suit their individual tastes. Victorian pants also hung where the waist is with the seams hanging just above the boots. It would have been considered unseemly to have pants hanging below the navel and the bottom of pants draping over boots. The length of the pants sleeve fluctuated, but the longest length had generally hung around the back of the heel. There were no creases so pants at that time hung pretty loose.

Stockings, heels and buckled shoes for men fell out of favor in the early nineteenth century which began to eliminate the necessity of breeches. Breeches were meant to show off the calves of men, knee high stockings and the latest in buckled shoes. All of those accessories fell out of fashion and in came the need for longer pants. Trousers came to define the early and mid Victorian era which came to shape shorter boots for men. Trousers would eliminate breeches altogether and since the Victorian era men were expected to wear pants.