Tights: Chronology


Figure 1.--

Clothing styles changed little in medieval Europe and styles persisted much longer than is common today. Hoisery similar to tights were commonly worn by men and boys for centuries. Trousers covering the legs were unknown. Instead they wore hose exposing the leg well above the knee. The trunk hose in time develooped into knee breeches. About 1660 the coat and vest were intoduced in France and brought to England by Charles II. The vest reached to the knees and had sleeves. A 18th-century addition to male costume was the buckled knee brreches, the precursor of modern trousers. These knee breeches are the dress of colonial America familiar to most Americans. Men no longer exposed there knees as had been common for centuries. Thus long hosiery passed from the fashion scene. It was not considered polite in the 19th century for adults to appear bare legged. Some very young children, boys and girls, by the 1860s did wear knee length dresses with short socks. Children commonly wore long stockings but not tights. After the War, new synthetic fibers were used to make childrens tights. The popularity of these new tights varied from country to country as well as who wore them. They were widey worn by boys in Germany and several other countries, but in America and England they were mostly worn by girls. Modern tights appeared after World War II. Conventioned varied from country to country. They were at first generally worn for formal occasions or for formal occassions. By the early 21st century this had changed. We no longer see boys wearing tights for formal events, although Japan may be an exception. We see boys wearing tights informally, although this was not common. We also note usages like gymnastics, wrestling, and Winter sports. There continue to be significant differences as to wearing conventions. Northern Eyropean boys seem much more willing to wear tights than American boys.

Early Medieval Period

The Roman tunic and cloak were the basic medieval clothing in the areas of Western Europe once part of the Roman Empire.

The 11th-12th Centuries

At the time of the Norman conquest in England men and women wore two tunics and a loose cloak. In addition, men wore chausses, tight-fitting hose that cpvered the feet, legs, and body below the waist. Roman influence also prevailed in the costumes of the kings and princes of the 11th and 12th centuries in England, France, Germany, and Itlay. These consisted of robes falling in loose folds, girdled at the waist. They different from the garments worn in antiquity primarily because of the addition of sleeves.

The 13th Century


The 14th Century

By the 14th century the robes worn by noblemen had become complex and cumbersome. Paintings from the period (Richard II in England and Charles VI of France) show men wearing floor-length robes, belted at the waist, with sleeves that also reached the floor. An extravegently high collar covered the neck and rose on the sides mearly to the ears.

The 15th Century

By the second decade of the 15th century, however, the robe has disappeared from the dress of men. From that time on, the principal male garments were a short-skirted gaerment valled a rochet, and a close-fitting, sleeved, and belted tunic called a cote hard or cotte. Under these garments were worn long, close-fitting hose, which were the obly covering from waist to clothes exceot for those parts covered by the skirt From about the middle of the 15th century the loose draping of garments derived from classical times gave way to tailoring or closely adapting the garment to the body. The garments of noblemen were tailored and then elaborately adornedveither with passementerie or trimmings, or by quilting. The hose were the only part of the dress not decorated.

The 16th Century

In the 16th century the hose were divided into trunk hose or hauts-de-chausses, which consisted of a number of rings or puffs of material passing horizontally around the thigh; and stockings or bas-de-chausses.

The 17th Century

The trunk hose in time develooped into knee breeches. About 1660 the coat and vest were intoduced in France and brought to England by Charles II. The vest reached to the knees and had sleeves. The coat reached a little lower than the vest. From these garnments the present day coat and waist coat gradually developed.


Figure 2.--This boy wears a turtleneck shirt, shorts, and tights for cycling. This is an American photograph. The boy's name is Frankie Staniford. The image can best be dated by the penny-farthing cycle. named for two different sized English coin. I would guess the 1890s, but don't know a lot about cycle styles.

The 18th Century

In the early 18th century mens' coats were made with fuller skirts, and the sleeves were made with wide cuffs. Another 18th-century addition to male costume was the buckled knee brreches, the precursor of modern trousers. These knee breeches are the dress of colonial America familiar to most Americans. Men no longer exposed there knees as had been common for centuries. Thus long hosiery passed from the fashion scene.

The 19th Century

It was not considered polite in the 19th century for adults to appear bare legged. Some very young children, boys and girls, by the 1860s did wear knee length dresses with short socks. Little boys by the end of the century might wear Buster Brown suits or Russian blouses without shoes and socks during the summer. This was more common in America than in Britain. It was not considered proper for older boys to appear bare-legged even for sports. (Girls of course were not expected to participate in sorts, but this was changing by the turn of the century when girls at school might wear bloomers with long stockings for sport.) Boys and men engaging in some sports like boxing would wear tights with short pants. Similar outfits might be used for other sports. Tights were worn in the lte 19th century, but primarily by adulkts involved in athletics, acrobatics, or theatricals. We see a number of portrait of adults and children in costumes during the 19th century. It is not always clear if the children involved are actual performers or just dressing up in costume. Many boys at the tome dreamed of running away to join the circus. Many circus performers wore tights.

The 20th Century

Boys in the early 20th century did not wear tights. There were some specialized uses of tights by adults for athletics, ballet, and theatrics. While children did not wear tights, many did wear long stockings. Boys wearing long over the knees stockings declined in the 1920s as short pants became more common, but did not totally disappear until after World War II (1939-45). After the War, new synthetic fibers were used to make childrens tights. We begin to note children's tights in the late-1950s. A good example is a German group in 1958. The popularity of these new tights varied from country to country as well as who wore them. They were widey worn by boys in Germany and several other countries, but in America and England they were mostly worn by girls. Boys now wear tights much less commonly in Germany and other countries where they were once worn. HBC is not sure why this is. One factor may be that children do not need cold weather clothing as much as preciously. Children are less exposed to cold when going to school in car, bus, and train wheras years ago they might have waked or ridden their bikes to school. That said, girls have continued to wear tights during the winter and as an article of dress wear. An exception here may be Russia. We note many Russian boys wearing tights. Am example is an unidentified boy in the 1980s.

21st Century

Modern tights appeared after World War II. Conventioned varied from country to country. They were worn by girls in America but both boys and girls wore them in Europe. They were at first generally worn for formal occasions or for formal occassions. By the early 21st century this had changed. We no longer see boys wearing tights for formal events, although Japan may be an exception. We see boys wearing tights informally, although this was not common. We also note usages like gymnastics, wrestling, and Winter sports. There continue to be significant differences as to wearing conventions. Northern European boys seem much more willing to wear tights than American boys. Gender conventions still vary widely, but as far as we can tell are not well defined. It is still not common in America for boys to wear tights, but we do see them being worn for gymnastics and wrestling. Conventions and the popularity of tights vary widely in Europe. Tights are not common in southern Europe, but are popular in several northern European countries. Climate appears to be the principal factor involved.







HBC






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Created: 1:26 AM 4/21/2005
Last updated: 7:38 PM 7/18/2010