It happened in a courtroom in 1938. Helen Hulick, a kindergarten teacher, showed up to testify against two burglary suspects wearing slacks. The judge was livid. He actually rescheduled the case and told her to come back in a dress. When she showed up in pants again, he gave her a five-day jail sentence for contempt. It sounds fake. It isn't.
Women taking off their pants—or rather, the fight to put them on in the first place—is one of the weirdest, most aggressive power struggles in modern history. We think of fashion as something flighty. Something shallow. But for a century, the simple act of choosing trousers over a skirt was basically a political manifesto.
The Rigid Social Policing of the Hemline
For a long time, the law was literally written into the fabric of daily life. In Paris, a law from 1800 required women to get permission from the police to "dress as a man," which effectively meant wearing pants. This wasn't fully repealed until 2013. Think about that. For over two centuries, a woman in Paris was technically breaking a rule every time she zipped up a pair of Levi’s.
The pushback wasn't just about "modesty." It was about mobility. If you’re wearing a corset and twenty pounds of petticoats, you aren't running anywhere. You aren't climbing a ladder. You aren't working a factory floor easily. When women started taking off their skirts to step into trousers, they were claiming the right to move through the world with the same physical freedom as men.
Bloomers and the First Major Backlash
In the mid-1800s, Elizabeth Smith Miller and Amelia Bloomer tried to push "rational dress." They wanted women to wear loose-fitting tunics over baggy trousers gathered at the ankle. People lost their minds. The press mocked them relentlessly. Clergymen preached that women taking off their traditional dresses would lead to the total collapse of the nuclear family.
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It was too much, too soon. The "Bloomer costume" largely failed because the social pressure was suffocating. Women went back to skirts, but the seed was planted. They realized that their clothing was a cage.
When Practicality Beat Tradition
Wars change everything. During World War I and World War II, women flooded into factories and onto farms. You can’t weld a ship in a hoop skirt. It’s dangerous. It’s a literal safety hazard. Suddenly, women taking off their skirts and putting on overalls wasn't a political statement—it was a patriotic necessity.
Even then, the transition was messy. Companies like Levi Strauss & Co. introduced "Freedom-Alls" in 1918, which were a sort of one-piece tunic-and-trouser hybrid. But there was still this weird cultural anxiety. Society wanted women to work like men during the day but look like "ladies" the moment the whistle blew.
- 1930s: Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn start wearing wide-leg trousers in films.
- 1940s: "Rosie the Riveter" makes denim workwear iconic for women.
- 1960s: André Courrèges introduces "space age" pantsuits, signaling a shift toward high-fashion acceptance.
- 1970s: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act finally allows women to get credit cards in their own name, and the "power suit" begins its ascent.
The Office Battleground and the Pantsuit
Even as late as the 1990s, the US Senate had an unwritten rule: women weren't supposed to wear pants on the Senate floor. This didn't change until 1993. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun basically staged a quiet "pants rebellion" by showing up in slacks. The world didn't end.
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Honestly, the "pantsuit" has become its own weird cultural trope. It’s seen as a symbol of corporate ambition, but it also carries the baggage of "trying to look like a man to be taken seriously." We’re still deconstructing that today. Women taking off their skirts for the boardroom was a tactical move, but now, the conversation has shifted toward total gender-neutrality in fashion.
Why the Context of "Taking Off Pants" Matters Today
If you look at modern trends, the pendulum is swinging in wild directions. We have the "no pants" trend seen on runways from Miu Miu and celebrities like Kendall Jenner, where the outfit is essentially a sweater and high-waisted briefs. It’s a bizarre full circle. First, women fought for the right to wear pants to be taken seriously. Now, taking off their pants in a high-fashion context is seen as a subversion of that very seriousness.
It’s confusing. It’s contradictory.
But that’s fashion. It’s never just about the clothes. It’s about who is allowed to wear what, and why. When a woman takes off her pants today, whether it’s to switch into a dress or to follow a "no-pants" runway trend, she’s exercising a level of autonomy that Helen Hulick literally went to jail for in 1938.
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How to Evaluate Your Own Wardrobe Autonomy
If you're looking to reclaim your style or just understand why we wear what we wear, start by looking at the "why." Are you wearing trousers because you feel powerful, or because you feel you have to hide? Are you wearing a skirt because it's comfortable, or because it's the "safe" choice for your environment?
- Check the fit, not the gender: Modern tailoring is increasingly unisex. Look for silhouettes that complement your frame rather than following traditional men's or women's cuts.
- Understand fabric history: Heavy denims and wools were historically "male" fabrics because of their durability. Incorporating these into feminine styles is a classic way to play with those old power dynamics.
- Ignore "appropriate" ages: The idea that women of a certain age should "take off their pants" and stick to modest skirts is an outdated relic. Wear what allows you to move.
- Prioritize utility: The best part of the pants revolution was the addition of pockets. If your clothes don't function for your life, they aren't worth the closet space.
The history of women taking off their pants—and putting them on—is a timeline of reclaiming the body. From the jail cells of the 30s to the red carpets of today, the message is clear: the only person who gets to decide what a woman wears is the woman herself.
Practical Next Steps
Audit your current wardrobe for "restriction points." If you have pieces that prevent you from sitting comfortably, walking quickly, or feeling like yourself, it's time to retire them. Look into the history of brands like Dickies or Carhartt to see how women's workwear evolved from men's patterns, and use that knowledge to find durable, high-quality pieces that last longer than a single fashion season. Focus on silhouettes that provide the mobility our predecessors fought for.