When did women really start to wear trousers and jeans?

rute

Veteran

Not in Portugal, here I would say the 70's for sure!

14 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I think it depends on the age group and the occasion, and perhaps also the location. My mom (North American) wore them in the 40s and 50s, but then Katherine Hepburn was one of her style icons. She wore them through the 60s, but not to church. She would wear them to the grocery store, but probably not if she were shopping for clothing for herself. By the 70s, everyone wore them.

14 years ago

MsMaven

Veteran

I'd say late sixties. Most women were not yet wearing them to work in an office, but as I remember, most of my friends and I spent nearly full time in pants. I had a pair of flowered bell-bottoms, some checked wool hip-huggers, and a pair of navy wool elephant leg flares, as well as jeans. I thought I was quite the fashionable young woman. This was in LA before 1970.

Still not yet acceptable in the office for several more years.

14 years ago

catgirl

Veteran

I just reread the "All Creatures Great and Small" books (some of my favorite books!) and he repeatedly mentions that his wife was a "slacks" pioneer (purple!) back in the 1930s in their farming community. I know girls wore denim for fashion in the 50s too.

14 years ago

Vildy

Veteran

I'm sure that women wore trousers because of work in wartime factories. I have old photos of my mom hiking (fashionably so, the men had carved walking sticks) in wide legged pants. Could that have been 30"s ? I have loads of pictures of her and her girlfriends wearing nice pants sets in the 40's, for leisure.

I graduated high school in '66. We wore pants everywhere, particularly those stretch pants with stirrups, that were a new thing. But not to school. The next year I came home
from college and the high school campus was a riot of pants, shorts, camisoles, halters.
Dress code completely out the window. I remember sitting in a college class and the professor making a remark about "women's lib" and the students, mostly guys, burst out laughing. I had no idea what that was. So I imagine that wearing pants to work was closer to the 70's.

14 years ago

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Una, I love that book! It is so funny and kind.
I think women trousers we around since 30s but did not go mainstream until 60s.

14 years ago

judy

Veteran

Growing up in the US in the 50's and 60's, there are photos of us wearing some pants by the time the 60's came around...mostly corduroys in the cooler weather and madras shorts in summer. But never to school! In high school in 1968 we were allowed to wear pants to school in the winter months for warmth (New England) but never jeans (we bought mens jeans, I don't think they made them for women yet...Levi 501's).

But then a revolution happened, no kidding...in just a couple of years, but it seemed like overnight, the norms of dress just turned upside down as did consciousness. The dress codes were abolished, initiated by the students, and we were wearing whatever we wanted. And that meant jeans of course, and some very short skirts too :)! It went from a very uptight buttoned up mentality to a wide open one....1968 to 1970. That's why I can't wait to see how the tv show Mad Men (back on soon?) will deal with these years, culturally and fashion wise.

14 years ago

Kappy

Veteran

I love learning about these sort of things. If you look at Life covers, Lana Turner was pictured wearing trousers in 1940 and there was a "Slacks in Style" cover in 1942, and a slacks-wearing "Wartime Wife" cover also in 1942. ETA: the links

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/life/4
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/life/7

14 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I do think jeans as regular wear came much later; not until the 70s and maybe not even then for "older" women, i.e. those over about 30.

14 years ago

taylor

Veteran

Where I lved in California , girls were not allowed to west pants to school until 1968/69 that was jr. High for me and really didn't become mainstream and widely accepted until 1970 or highschool , and even then I had to sneak them for awhile

14 years ago

nancylee

Veteran

I agree with Vildy and Kappy that pants became more common and acceptable for women in the U.S. during WWII because of factory work. Many famous actress of that era wore trousers as a fashion statement, too (Katherine Hepburn, etc.).

My mom, who was a teenager in the 50's, wore jeans (they called them "dungarees") for very casual events when she was in high school and college, although dresses were still more popular back then. I think Suz is right when she cites the late 60's and 70's as the eras when jeans/pants became widely popular with women.

14 years ago

Isis

Veteran

I'm with Taylor. Pants on girls were not alllowed in our middle school in the late 60's (midwest). When I entered high school in 1970, I could wear them.....

14 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

So interesting! LOVE hearing your stories and perceptions. Thank you!

I think we all agree - late '60s to early '70s is when things really started changing in ladies fashion (from a jeans and trouser perspective). Before that, it was not a mainstream look despite WW2.

14 years ago

Vildy

Veteran

I just remembered, I saw teenagers on tv wearing jeans and their father's oversized white shirt and I wanted to do that. I could not have been more than 10 and possibly a year or two younger. My mother didn't like the idea but my father had her buy me a pair and I wore them every day at home until I outgrew them. This would have been around
56-58. I often think of these jeans, which fit well, since she only brought home the one pair for me and what a contrast to how women now try on dozens.

14 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Ya, late '60s, early '70s. I don't really remember my mom wearing dresses, but I don't think there are photos of her in pants (a part from camping photos) until the 70s had gotten a good start.

14 years ago

Carole

Veteran

I remember in 1969 I was in the 7th grade and it was the first year you could wear jeans or pants to school. I don't think any girl ever wore dresses to school again, I know I didn't. Liberating, yes, but sad too.

14 years ago

Laurie

Veteran

I immediately thought about not being allowed to wear pants to school, like 2 others have mentioned here - same exact years - until the end of the '60's. We organized a group and petitioned the principal of our grade school to let us wear pants on FRIDAYS! one of our justifications was that it would be warmer; Pittsburgh in the winter!

I don't remember my Mom wearing jeans ever, but there were a lot of pedal pushers, as she called them. She embraced the bell bottom '70's, when she was in her 30s.

in one of the earliest Mad Men episodes, Don's boho lover who lives in the Village is wearing straight slacks -- maybe the stretch pants with stirrups that were mentioned.

Fun post!

14 years ago

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