
Bring Togas Back, Pants Are Obsolete - tabtab
I&#x27;ve decided pants suck for modern life. Pants have actually been around at least since the Greco-Roman times; however, they were associated with equestrian warriors and slaves, and thus never caught on as a mainstream fashion. Pants came into widespread use during the industrial revolution because they were convenient for rushing around the factory floor and less likely to get caught in machinery.<p>However, as one bulks up around the middle as they mature, pants have difficulty staying up and fitting right. Tightening one&#x27;s belt to compensate is not comfortable. Suspenders may solve some of that, but it seems the Greeks and Romans were on to something. Being the slaves did most the work, they probably got chubby around the middle also, and found togas and tunics more comfortable. Machines are the modern slaves.
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eesmith
Concerning togas, Wikipedia says: "it was hard to put on, uncomfortable and
challenging to wear correctly, and never truly popular. When circumstances
allowed, those otherwise entitled or obliged to wear it opted for more
comfortable, casual garments. It gradually fell out of use, firstly among
citizens of the lower class, then those of the middle class. Eventually, it
was worn only by the highest classes for ceremonial occasions, and by the 5th
century AD, it had been replaced as official costume by the more practical
pallium and paenula."

And "It was considered formal wear, and was generally reserved for citizens."

One story suggests that even patricians, no longer in office, did not wear
togas all the time:

"Various anecdotes in Livy's history of Rome reflect the toga's symbolic
value. In one, the patrician hero Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, retired from
public life and clad (presumably) in tunic or loincloth, is ploughing his
field when emissaries of the Senate arrive, and ask him to put on his toga.
His wife fetches it and he puts it on. Then he is told that he has been
appointed dictator. He promptly heads for Rome.[34] Donning the toga
transforms Cincinnatus from rustic, sweaty ploughman – though a gentleman
nevertheless, of impeccable stock and reputation – into Rome's leading
politician, eager to serve his country; a top-quality Roman."

By comparison, the entry for "tunic" says: "The name derives from the Latin
tunica, the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome, which in
turn was based on earlier Greek garments that covered people around their
waist." The Greek garment was called a chiton.

You may also be interested in a sarong, or related clothing like a dhoti,
lungi, mundu, or lava-lava. Some of the pictures from those pages shows men
who are chubby around the middle.

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tabtab
Excellent alternatives to pants that I hope the fashion trends experiment
with. Long shirts with dark sweats or "leggings" of some kind is something to
try. If shirts are long enough, then what holds the sweats/leggings up doesn't
matter as much, giving more choice. (Most men don't want to expose their hairy
legs except on the hottest of days.)

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flukus
> However, as one bulks up around the middle as they mature, pants have
> difficulty staying up and fitting right. Tightening one's belt to compensate
> is not comfortable. Suspenders may solve some of that

The trick is to pull the pants up high enough that the belly itself holds them
up. I do this with my pajamas but I'm unfortunately not old enough to pull of
this look in public. The stereo type of old man having there pants pulled up
to their armpits has a practical origin.

~~~
tabtab
Re: "The stereo type of old man having there pants pulled up to their armpits
has a practical origin."

That's one of the signs pants have outlived their usefulness. When you are
young your hips are wider than your middle, making it easy for pants to stay
up. But when your middle gets larger than your waist, the physics of pants
don't work, and you have to either resort to torturous belts, or pull them up
so high that you have camel-toe.

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grawprog
One could always go with the classic poncho or the thing Homer wears on the
Simpson's when he was 300lbs. Or you could go for the Hugh Hefner look and
just rock a bath robe. Or there's what my 400lb buddy likes to do when he has
company, just sit naked under a blanket in the living room.......

There's plenty of options, you just gotta be imaginative.

~~~
eesmith
In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King-
Size_Homer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King-Size_Homer) Homer wears a
muumuu.

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tlack
But how doth one hide their junk?

~~~
tabtab
Underwear (or undergarments) and togas are not mutually exclusive. Besides, we
can consider "toga-like" rather than exact replicas.

