Saturday, February 12, 2011
Pumpkin Pants, Evolution Or Creation?
This weekend, from a woman whose opinion I have always treasured, I've been learning some excellent lessons about pumpkin pants. She is a theatrical costume designer of substantial experience. The subject was trunk hose, about which I had read the following: Trunk hose and slops can be paned or pansied, with panels of fabric over an inner lining. Pansied slop is a bulbous hose with a layer of fabric strips from waistband to leg. These are called "pumpkin" pants.
She replied that pumpkin breeches are not always slops: "Slops are similar in that they are also big, balloon-y shorts that can have slashes and panes in them, but slops predate pumpkin breeches and are both less structured and usually hit lower on the thigh. Pumpkin breeches hit quite high on the leg and are much more structured. Slops were more drapey."
I wanted to try on a pair, but was wary of going to a clothing store and asking for pumpkin pants with pansied slop. Who knows what that'd get me in this day and age? So I did the next best thing. I got out my sketchbook and headed back to the 16th century. I even made myself a little younger and better-looking for the trip. As you can see by the middle figure in the doodle above, I also got a doublet and wacky hat thrown in.
Not only did I feel as silly as I looked, the outfit inspired me to greater curiosity. So I cast my thoughts a hundred years ahead, to the late 17th century. There I met two handsome fellows. One on the left is a French peasant. On the right is a mounted gendarme. Fashionwise, both appeared to have been thrown together at random --frills, sashes, hangy-down things all over them-- which argues in favor of evolution. But I had my suspicions.
Both wore frock coats of considerable length, with distracting amounts of buttons. Gendarme had high, broad boots and peasant had a skirt on. These boys were hiding something! What? I decided I did not want to know, but suspected they had pumpkin pants somewhere. This would argue pumpkin pants were part of their creation. Concealment suggests creation and evolution equally.
I brought these findings forward to my authority, who pronounced my trunk hose slopless. She said:"I have a less precise visual shorthand for differentiating between the two: slops=Pirate pants; pumpkin breeches=Shakespeare." This meant I would have to backtrack, prior to 1564 --Shakespeare's birth year-- to get any idea of proper slops. I decided to go lie down instead.
However, this question is by no means settled: Pumpkin pants, created or evolved? There is much to do and more data to collect. Data is important! Except for my gendarme using a (at the time, uninvented) snaffle bit to control his dinosaur, my account is historically correct. But did slops disappear or evolve into disguise? Until I am rested enough to deal with pirates, I must be content to live with the mystery.
Thanks, Geo.! I don't recall ever hearing the term but certainly recognized the style. Your delightful sketches and musings led me to Google the term, and I found many items, even a contemporary meaning from the Urban Dictionary, among others:ReplyDelete
http://www.google.com/search?q=pumpkin+pants&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
And when I went to Google images, oh là là:
http://www.google.com/images?q=pumpkin+pants&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1680&bih=897
Looking forward to more! Thank you informed informant!
- Thanks Annie B. Sketchbooks generate lots of ideas and are a good retreat when it's too cold to play outdoors, but you know that!
Liked the dinosaur! I think I prefer what I'm wearing, and I suspect our local gendarmes feel similarly.
ReplyDeleteTom, we're in accord here. I suspect early clothing was a form of punishment and the gendarmes felt they, at least, did not deserve it.
DeleteI think if I went back to that era, I'd stick with a loin cloth. Recently I reread and reviewed Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror" which is about the 14th Century, where pointed and curly shoes were all the rage. The church tried to suppress such a hideous fashion but it didn't work. I wonder what they said about pumpkin pants. I'll offer an alternative answer. Maybe they are proof that there's dark forces at work in our world, as most lately manifested in the 70s with double-knit polyester.
ReplyDeleteLoin cloth would be sensible, Jeff. However, it's rumored that pumpkin pants actually contained their own plumbing --which may or may not have worked. But the church was right about shoes; one cannot be taken seriously with upturned curly toes.
DeleteI noticed that the puffy shirt (BS - Before Seinfeld) accompanies the pumpkin pants. I imagine that in those times it took half a day to get dressed. I also wonder what they did when Mother Nature called. It seems like too much work. I guess the expression, “Less is more”, was not thought of then.
ReplyDeleteLovely Arleen, given the primitive condition of public facilities in the early Renaissance, I imagine people responded to Mother Nature's call by hiding and not answering. There's a paucity of literature on the subject but I'll be alert for it.
DeleteAnd we think today's fashions are extreme!!
ReplyDeleteIs than an opposing thumb I see on that dinosaur? You are a talented artist, Geo.
0_Jenny, you are most observant. My older relatives describe their Jurassic diet as mostly picking up round, ground-dwelling life-forms for carbohydrates. Try grabbing a potato without using your thumb and you'll see why I took the liberty of doodling one.
DeleteI am totally baffled. I even thought the dinosaur was a camel. I wondered what it was doing there but it is as appropriate as a dino I suppose.
ReplyDeleteDear Emma, several months ago, when the gendarmes were finally overwhelmed by the much-chorused (and repeated) question, "Mon Dieu, c'est un dinosaure?!!", they began saying, "No, it is a camel!" and order was restored.
DeleteYour three gentlemen look like 'pansies' to me...but hey...anyone who can leash a dragon has to be all man right????? ....no matter how frilly their pants are.
ReplyDeleteDear Delores, thanks for the optimistic take, but what if the dragon has leashed the man? I too am suspicious of guys with frilly pants and swords. Best wishes in this and all seasons.
DeleteHeck, I have enough trouble unzipping (or zipping...?) the fly on my Levis. I couldn't imagine being trapped in pumpkin pants - especially when chasing (or being pursued by) dinosaurs. Or dragons.
ReplyDeleteI love your illustration.
Thanks Jon. I suspect pumpkin pants and other improbable fashions were designed to distract the fashionable aristocracy from running at each other with swords --and keep them from doing it. This non-combative hiatus allowed the social dominance of modern sanitation. Good thing too!
DeleteThat dinosaur/camel/steed has a strange arm in front of him looking vaguely human. Course those three dudes look vaguely human also. Sorry, Geo, stick with jeans or khakis.
ReplyDeleteBruce, I consider modern trousers a step in the right direction. Evolutionarily speaking, the dinosaur's opposable thumb is what was needed to prefigure the zipper. Humankind can now advance.
DeleteI have to wonder how those pumpkin pants would look on the Golden State Warriors on a Shakespeare night in the arena? Too much of a time gap, you think?
ReplyDeleteDon't mention it too loudly, Tom. We've seen stranger fashions in SF, but none that might lead to swordfights in the NBA.
DeletePirate pants are still common wear in Cornwall (I have a few pairs) but Shakespeare pants will get you a stare, as will a dinosaur steed. Happy holidays - today here deepest winter turns towards the light xx
ReplyDeleteDear Lisa, Glad to learn Shakespeare pants will get stares if that's what one wants --especially in winter cold as dinosaurs make poor indoor pets. It's good to have a choice! Happy holidays to you too!
DeleteOh where was this post when I was trying to figure out the complexities of this period of clothing when I was puzzling through photos of clothing circa 1605 just last September? I was writing a short story for a competition. Finally I gave up and omitted almost all references to clothing. But then I'm fashioned-challenged, and descriptions of clothing make my head hurt. I thought you looked quite fetching next to your overdressed companions in the sketch ~ and a dinosaur always warms my heart. I'd give a lot to see you go into a clothing store and ask for pumpkin pants with pansied slop! I'll be laughing about that all day, a day in which I seriously need a laugh. I am quite fatigued by the ongoing impeachment saga which I've been watching for months. I don't want to laugh too much though because my mouth is crammed with stitches after yet another periodontal/dental surgery a few days ago. Thank you for reminding me that there is "us and cats" and "pumpkin pants with pansied slops!" I feel so much better!
ReplyDeleteMy dear Louise, I thought it important to repost this essay about antiquated fashion. My daughter is a longtime theatrical costume designer in Chicago --and is the woman to whom I refer as my authority. She studied in London, Prague and Moscow at a time before relations with those and our cities became uncertain. It was a friendlier world before Trump took office --much friendlier. I have undergone enough surgery to know its ill-effects and am happy and privileged to have provided you some measure of relief.
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