Culottes

"Culotte" redirects here. For the cut of meat, see sirloin cap steak.
Culottes
Sketch of culottes
TypePair of shorts that look like a skirt, or shorts with a skirt-like panel in front and back
Materialfabric
Louis XVI, dressed in culottes
James Monroe, the last U.S. president who dressed according to the style of the late 18th century, with his Cabinet in 1823. The president wears knee breeches, while his secretaries wear long trousers.

Culottes are an item of clothing worn on the lower half of the body. The term can refer to either split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's underpants; this is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, languages and cultures, then being used to describe different garments, often creating confusion among historians and readers. The French word culotte is (a pair of) panties, pants, knickers, trousers, shorts, or (historically) breeches; derived from the French word culot, meaning the lower half of a thing, the lower garment in this case.

In English-speaking history culottes were originally the knee-breeches commonly worn by gentlemen of the European upper-classes from the late Middle Ages or Renaissance through the early 19th century. The style of tight trousers ending just below the knee was popularized in France during the reign of Henry III (1574–1589).[1] Culottes were normally closed and fastened about the leg, to the knee, by buttons, a strap and buckle, or a draw-string. During the French Revolution of 1789–1799, working-class revolutionaries were known as the "sans-culottes" – literally, "without culottes" – a name derived from their rejection of aristocratic apparel.[2]

In the United States, only the first five presidents, from George Washington (1732-1799) through James Monroe (1758-1831), wore culottes according to the style of the late 18th century.[3][4] John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) wore long trousers instead of knee breeches at his inaugural ceremony in 1825, thus becoming the first president to have made the change of dress.

  1. ^ Calasibetta, Charlotte Mankey; Tortora, Phyllis (2010). The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion (PDF). New York: Fairchild Books. ISBN 978-1-56367-973-5. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  2. ^ Soboul, Albert (1972). The Sans-Culottes: The Popular Movement and Revolutionary Government, 1793–1794. New York: Doubleday. pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-691-00782-9. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  3. ^ Digital History, Steven Mintz. "Digital History". Digitalhistory.uh.edu. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  4. ^ Whitcomb, John; Whitcomb, Claire (May 3, 2002). Real life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's most famous residence (1st Routledge pbk. ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-93951-5. Retrieved April 20, 2010.