Breeches: why cavalry pants were given such a strange shape

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The military at the beginning of the 20th century had a very strange fashion for pants. Everyone at least once had to see trousers of a frankly strange shape and wonder why breeches look like that. Of course, nothing in the military wardrobe is done for nothing. Let's figure out when exactly the strange pants appeared and who invented them.

In fact, funny military trousers appeared in the 19th century. Around the 1830s, they were invented and introduced into the circulation of the French army by General Gaston Ghalifet. The fact is that due to the injury received in his youth, Gaston had a curvature of the legs, which he tried to hide in such a way as to be able to attend social events without feeling uncomfortable.

In the army, the pants of the new model were intended for cavalrymen. It was believed that riding in a saddle in such trousers was much more comfortable and practical. So, the freedom of the smell of pants made it possible to climb on a horse much faster. Interestingly, in France itself, cavalry trousers were not called "breeches" at all, this name was assigned to them only after the item of clothing fell into the Russian troops. In the main republic of Europe, they were simply called "culotte bouffante", which translates as "slouchy trousers."

In the 1890s, the trousers began to be worn by men who were not in military service. Nevertheless, the second most popular breeches after the French army of the 19th century was the Soviet Red Army of the first half of the 20th century. The reason for this was very simple - until the end of World War II, cavalry did not occupy the last place in the army, and since for a long time it was a very privileged branch of the army, many officers, primarily of high rank, wore such trousers.