When did Bermuda shorts become a thing?
That highly pressing question has been asked in the comments on the open thread, and I will take it on myself to answer it without looking anything up. The Fifties was the height (or length) of the Bermudas craze. Only tiny children wore short shorts; everyone else wore Bermudas. They Bermudas were often equipped with little 4-inch belts in the back, with metal buckles, and madras print short-sleeved shirts were very popular for accompaniment.
It was in the latter part of the 60s that short shorts replaced Bermudas, and that was through the mechanism of jeans cutoffs. They were short to begin with, plus they unraveled over time, making them even shorter.
However, short shorts had long been required for certain sports, such as basketball. This had been going on for decades and continued for decades. In basketball (confession: I cheated and looked this particular part up) the sudden appearance of long baggy shorts was in the 1990s, and the sport hasn’t looked back since. People are so used to the baggy look now that the short-shorts of olden days seem very odd, but they weren’t odd at all at the time.
For women and teenage girls, short shorts never really went out. But they had a special heyday in the 70s as hot pants and became briefly (pun intended) okay for more dressy occasions. And yes, I had one hot pants outfit at the time.
We all know one blogger that thinks that Men that wear shorts are an abomination.
I have a number shorts, Bermuda I guess, that I wear in the summer. I use to wear shorts while working in the yard but have stopped that because I just did not like all the sunscreen that I had to put on, plus we have mosquitoes.
Not sure about this. In the 50s I wore an early version of cargo shorts, sold and purchased at the Marshall Field store in Evanston IL They were khaki-colored but clearly based on green Boy Scouts “tactical” or “camping” shorts then in use — which were in turn clearly based on a military-type garment. These weren’t shorty-shorts but they were above the knees.
In World War II all U.S. military personnel were issued with above-the-knee khaki shorts for service in temperate and tropical zones. My dad, a navy officer stationed in the Panama Canal Zone and then the Philippines, wore military issue shorts.
Sometimes Americans wore military issue shorts in combat but generally did not. A variant of Bermuda shorts was worn by British and Dutch naval personnel in tropical (i.e. South Pacific) climes in World War II. I’m not sure if the shorts worn by American troops in the Pacific Theaters were as long as the British and Dutch variants. Probably not but I’m open to correction. Also Allied and Axis (German and Italian troops) troops commonly wore short shorts, just long enough to have useful pockets for stowage, in North Africa, Greece, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean war zones. They wore them during the day and when it got cold at night — as it always does in the desert — they wore ankle-length great coats over their shorts for warmth.
Wearing shorts entailed risk in combat from flash burns and suchlike but men wore them anyway. On the second day of the war on Wake Island Atoll (December 9 on the other side of the International Date were the atoll is located) Pearl Harbor cabled the beleaguered Marine garrison advising them to exchange their shorts for long trousers for protection. In North Africa RAF fighter pilots commonly flew in shorts, which was possible because aerial combat usually in that theater took place at relatively low altitudes. Some even went up shirtless, with parachutes strapped to bare backs. British troops in Southeast Asia — English and Indian alike (e.g., Sikhs) all wore shorts in jungle combat.
In general shorts worn by all nationalities in combat zones were, as mentioned, and for the most part, relatively short — shorter than Bermuda length. Plainly soldiers men serving in desert and tropical war zones found the heat and its attendant discomforts quite intolerable and were thus willing to forego the protection offered by long pants.
As a straight male, I am perfectly fine never seeing another man in shorts. Especially short shorts.
The only thing Neo left out from my perspective is that at least some of that conversion to longer more baggy shorts for men was the style known as “boardshorts.”
Boardshorts are a type of swimwear and casual wear in the form of relatively long (approximately knee length) loose-fitting shorts that are designed to be quick-drying and are generally made from strong and smooth polyester or nylon material. Originally known as surf trunks, later as Jams, and occasionally in British English as swim shorts, boardshorts are a style of men’s and, more recently, women’s summerwear.
Boardshorts have evolved over the last 50 years …
The name “boardshorts” is based on their use in aquatic sports that use a board, such as surfing. They are also sometimes called “boardies” first coined by Body Glove in 1953 slang, especially in Australia, and “baggies” in South Africa.
Boardshorts are especially popular in North America and spread beyond surfing especially as the skater punk fashion trend got underway. They are also typically worn in men’s beach volleyball.
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I went to a wedding last summer and the notes distributed to the guests included an item at the bottom entitled, “Cupid wears red shorts.” Apparently, the bride and groom first met at a popular bar and dance hall and she was wearing the aforementioned red shorts. Short shorts I’m guessing. As she spent most of her youth involved in dance classes and dance, I’m sure she looked very nice.
Michael Jordon introduced long shorts into basketball, which everyone then copied.
I was in Athens, in Bermuda shorts, in the mid-sixties, and I was the only one so clad. All the tourists, mostly German, wore lederhosen or short shorts, and all thought, by their looks at me, that Madras Bermudas were peculiar.
But I still have some!
I know for a fact that short shorts have been around since around 1949/1950.
My wife asked, in front of the grandchildren, what I first noticed about her when she was about 15. I replied, “short shorts. You were riding your bicycle going away from me.” She seemed surprised, and none too amused. The grandchildren, and their mother, did seem amused.
She did have the most beautiful blue eyes one could imagine. Despite surgery when she was around 7 years old, one still crossed ever so slightly when she was tired. I found that endearing.
I remember when we called them hot pants. I had a pair in suede, with lacing up the sides. I had forgotten about those until I read this. My, how time flies…
Google “photos of Wehrmacht” or “German soldiers” in North Africa during World War II.
Shorts-shorts were all the rage with the Krauts.
Those Nazees were so stylish.
Grown men should avoid wearing shorts unless (1) sleeping, (2) exercising, (3) lollygagging around their home. Same deal for broads.
IrishOtter49:
Leterhosen (and suspenders) and Pickelhaube
This discussion got me thinking of this song:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvjXAtzaMU
My wife, a dancer, had the legs for short shorts. I expect that Neo did too. Add in suspenders to accentuate another of her attributes, and she was apparently quite dangerous. So many young women these days, carrying extra weight, don’t benefit from them.
Shorts are ubiquitous in PHX esp in the summer. I notice them more on men. Never liked them, and rarely, throughout my life, have I worn them, except, as now, sitting around a hotel room, or working out. Grew up riding, hiking, and skiing, in CO, and long pants always made more sense. On the flip side, my wife grew up in Las Vegas, and moved to PHX in her mid 20s after having been widowed. All the males on her side of the family (son, son-in-law-law, 5 grandsons) wear shorts much of the time, through at least half the year. The females, not so much. And then there is me, still wearing Levi’s, very similar to the ones I wore in HS, but a couple inches wider at the waist (28’ then to 33’ now 28’ are almost impossible to find in stores anymore). And they now zip up. But still no shorts. That blogger mentioned above and I are in agreement there.
The following is a jest:
“When did Bermuda shorts become a thing?”
…I guess they became a thing, when [Bermuda long pants] became too doggone HOT!
(Hee, hee, hee!) 🙂
}}} For women and teenage girls, short shorts never really went out. But they had a special heyday in the 70s as hot pants and became briefly (pun intended) okay for more dressy occasions. And yes, I had one hot pants outfit at the time.
This peaked with the Dolphin Shorts of the early 80s, most notably connected with the fitness craze of the same time (yes, it peaked in the early-mid 80s).
The most obvious modern example of Dolphin Shorts still around is the shorts generally associated with “Hooters Girls”. Except that the Dolphin short was generally not a single color, it was usually one of two forms, two colors, one for one side (“Cheek”) and the other for the other side.
Even better was the striped kind, with two colors of stripes, the stripes about 1cm wide, in alternating colors. If you had a shapely rear end (and, again: “Fitness craze”, so, quite possible) they were exceptionally flattering of your tuchus.
Here’s a picture of such a pair (nothing inappropriate):
https://img0.etsystatic.com/012/0/5831433/il_fullxfull.448486246_3p11.jpg
After that, shorts became much less a popular fad, and other things came into play.
Women who wear short shorts today are generally advertising a certain easy availability more often than not.
Next topic: why did anyone ever think that Speedos were a good look?
It follows the liberal spectrum from #LoweredExpectations at one extreme to #LeerAtMe at the other. Moderation is a conservative quality.
My high school basketball uniform (short shorts) was made of fairly heavy cotton -almost duck- for durability. They were thrown in a large industrial washer with very hot water (and a good dollop of bleach for “home whites”) after every game and were expected to last at least 3 years. The baggy shorts of today’s game only became popular with the adoption of lightweight artificial fiber material. Loose, lightweight sorts allow the same level of leg flexibility afforded by shorts that ended at the top of the hams and quads. If those baggy shorts were made of the same cotton, players would have a hard time moving.
BTW, shorts, regardless of weather, were de rigueur for young guys when my son was in school. It was a California thing that, as usual, migrated out. Even when we moved to a less salubrious clime, he’d leave the house for school in shorts with the outside temps in the 30’s and raining.
I don’t see many people wearing Bermuda shorts at all. The bane of my existence is the multi-pocketed cargo shorts, which every male college student wears, and continue to wear into adulthood, middle age and even retirement age. They never grow up. I know a couple of young guys in college who do not own a regular pair of pants.
Also, cargo shorts worn de rigeur with flip flops — the ugliest footwear ever.
}}} Next topic: why did anyone ever think that Speedos were a good look?
Same reason as the Dolphin Shorts — if you are young and in shape — and that was usually the case back in the 70s/80s when they were popular — they look ok.
I had a pair given to me by my then-GF, I otherwise probably would not have worn one.
Keep in mind, one of the groups they were very popular with were devotees of Fire Island.
Some of you will Get That. Others may Guess. Wiki it if you feel curious.