Don't You Hate Pants?
Hitch up your britches for this wild fact.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Today, we’re diving into a com-pleat-ly bizarre law.
From 1800 to 2013, it was technically illegal for women to wear pants in Paris.
Welcome to “sweater weather” season! Temperatures are dropping across the world, featuring aggressive gusts of wind, rain, and snow. Every single place that serves food or drink has some kind of special pumpkin/maple/apple cider/cardamom offering on its menu. In the U.S., daylight savings time has made my dog (and thus, me) get up earlier than I’d like each morning. It’s wonderful.
Fewer people refer to this time of year as “pants weather,” however. Perhaps it’s because that phrase doesn’t vaguely rhyme; you’d need something like “pants chance” or “pants dance,” and the latter is a completely separate occurrence of trying to slide into a pair of jeans that once easily fit.
But for over 200 years, it was illegal to wear pants in Paris. An antiquated law enacted on November 17, 1800 had forbade women from putting trousers on and then showing said style to the world.
Like many laws of today the 1700s and 1800s, this particular piece of legislation was aimed at limiting what women could do. In the wake of the French Revolution, working class revolutionaries called themselves “sans-culottes” and wore long pantalons in defiance of the aristocracy, who typically donned silk, knee-length britches known as culottes.
While these were a cool form of political protest for men, women had to request police permission to wear trousers. And even then, there needed to be some sort of medical or professional reason. “It’s cold outside” or “I love the feeling of corduroy on my legs” were not acceptable.
Many women acknowledged this was a silly law, thought it also paved the way to some fashion evolution. Amelia Bloomer designed bloomers as an alternative to bulky dresses, and increased interest in cycling led to women’s athletic wear.
Over the years, the law saw some modifications and exceptions. Namely, 1892 and 1909 updates allowed women to wear trousers when “holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.”
Unclear if trouser-wearing was acceptable while doing both at once. Could you imagine a cute little horse-and-bike set up like a motorcycle sidecar? Sounds delightful!
The World Wars also helped normalize trousers for women, who took over jobs in factories and on farms while men were away fighting. Since dresses and skirts aren’t practical for the industrial situations women were in, they started wearing trousers out of necessity.
It wasn’t until January 31, 2013 that the French government officially repealed the law. By then, just about everyone was already ignoring it and wearing whatever they wanted. Still, it’s good to know this legislature is off the books completely.
Enjoy sweater weather season! Whether you’re cozying up with some warm trousers or are going the Homer Simpson route and discarding them during a comedy set, I just hope you’re comfortable.