I recall being rather surprised when a friend informed me that it was only during the early 1900’s that wearing trousers in European cultures became acceptable. My surprise was partly due to the fact that Chinese and Middle Eastern cultures (Harem pants anyone?) have long been following this trend. So why did it take so long for Europe to come round and how did trousers become our most essential wardrobe staple? Ok so maybe this is not the case for all of you but I certainly cannot live without my jeans and black trousers.
Looking into this issue I came across an early 20th century French designer by the name of Paul Poiret who is cited as being one of the first people in Europe to design trousers for women. Inspired by costumes he had seen on the Opera Sheherazade which is based on a famous collection of short stories from the Middle East called 1001 Arabian nights, he created wide-legged and loose fitting trousers for women thus introducing Europeans to Harem pants. I’m sure his designs must have created some outrage at the time.
It is often said that Gabriel Coco Chanel loved her harem pants and we all know (only too well) that what Coco loves we love too. Chanel was into designing clothes for active working women. She made sure her clothes were practical so that women felt relaxed in the clothes that they wore. Therefore, trousers instead of corsets took a centre stage in her collections. She was rumoured to have famously worn her boyfriends’ suits and designed riding trousers for women, a novelty in the 1930's as women usually rode wearing heavy skirts forcing them to ride, rather uncomfortably I assume, side saddle. 
People continued to be equally fascinated and horrified by the idea of women wearing trousers throughout the 30's and onto the early 40's. It did help the cause though that Hollywood actresses such as Katharine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich had started to wear trousers regularly. Even at the beginning of her career Marlene was known to single out masculine clothes to wear and garnered a reputation for having an androgynous quality. At the same time some people believe that Hepburn’s rebellion against wearing what was considered to be the norm at her time changed the perception of how women should dress. 
1950’s unfortunately dictated that women wear dresses rather trousers as trousers made them less ‘feminine’. Fortunately this trail of thought did not last very long and 1966 saw Yves-Saint-Laurent introduce Le Smoking tuxedo suits for women. Yves-Saint-Laurent was seen by many as having empowered women by giving them the option to wear clothes that were normally worn by men with influence and power. However, even so until the 1990’s trouser suits or pansuits were considered inappropriately masculine. In fact until the 1990’s women were not allowed to wear pansuits in the United States Senate.
Since the 1990’s though we have not looked back. Whether you are wearing jeans, pantsuits, shorts or jumpsuits I am sure you will all agree that we are ‘wearing the trousers’ more often than not. I find there is something liberating about wearing trousers in the 21st century knowing that about 5 generations ago this would not have been considered appropriate. How do you feel about trousers? Do you find it empowering or do you think that only dresses and skirts doth a lady make?
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