ABSTRACT
Knickers, or knickerbockers as they are called in Great Britain, first appeared in the mid-nineteenth century. According to John Berendt, they were inspired by the somewhat baggy knee breeches seen in George Cruikshank's illustrations for Washington Irving's A History of New York; the name, in fact, was derived from 'Diedrich Knickerbockers', the pseudonymous author of the book. Knee breeches themselves went back as far as the sixteenth century and had been the dominant form of men's pants for over 200 years prior to the French Revolution. Knickers went on to become extremely fashionable in England in the early decades of the twentieth century. After almost a half century of only marginal use, knickers have undergone a modest revival. By the late 1980s pro golfers such as Payne Stewart and Patty Sheehan were seen wearing them. In addition, mail order catalogs were offering them, and Ralph Lauren added them to the Polo line.
