Hose

Leggings or hose are any of several sorts of fitted clothing to cover the legs. Originally leggings were two separate garments, one for each leg.

Leggings in various forms and under various names have been worn for warmth and protection by both men and women throughout the centuries. The separate hose worn by men in Europe from the 14th to 16th centuries (the Renaissance period) were a form of leggings, as are the trews of the Scottish Highlands. Separate leggings of buckskin leather were worn by some Native Americans; These were adopted by some Long Hunters, French fur trappers, and later by mountain men. They are the leatherstockings of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. The Buckskins, however were mostly a dull grey brain-tan, not the bright, glossy vegetable tanned leather we so commonly see today. It was also common for leggings to be made of light wool. Cowboys wore leggings of buckskin to protect from chapping caused by riding, wear and tear to their pants, and bites from such animals as snakes or insects in the scruff such as ticks. In many places, especially in colder countries such as ex:Russia or Korea men and women continued to wear wool leggings into modern times, often as an additional outer layer for warmth. The linen pantalettes worn by girls and women under crinolines in the mid-19th century were also a form of leggings, and were originally two separate garments. Leggings became a part of fashion in the 1960s, as trousers similar to the capris pants but much tighter. It was not until the fitness and aerobics craze in the very early 1980s that leggings became fashionable as gym-styled street wear for women. Popular ways leggings were worn included with skirts, and short dresses like babydoll dresses, oversized shirts, sweaters, etc. and with slouch socks and Keds.

Hose are any of various styles of men's clothing for the legs and lower body, worn from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century, when the term fell out of use in favor of breeches and stockings. (See also trousers.) Early hose were fitted to the leg, and fifteenth century hose were often particolored, having each leg a different color, or even one leg made of two colors. These early hose were footed, in the manner of modern tights, and were open from the crotch to the leg. When very short doublets were in fashion, codpieces were added to cover the front opening.

By the sixteenth century, hose had separated into two garments: upper hose or breeches and nether hose or stockings. From the mid-sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, a variety of styles of hose were in fashion. Popular styles included:

• Trunk hose or round hose, short padded hose. Very short trunk hose were worn over cannions, fitted hose that ended above the knee.
• Slops or galligaskins, loose hose reaching just below the knee.
• Trunk hose and slops could be paned or pansied, with strips of fabric (panes) over a full inner layer or lining.
• Pluderhosen, a Northern European form of pansied slops with a very full inner layer pulled out between the panes and hanging below the knee.
• Venetians, semi-fitted hose reaching just below the knee.