What’s up with pants?

I’m feeling this little essay in the Atlantic on the history of pants.  Turns out bicycles, horse riding and new rights for women were partially to blame for the development of this constricting fabric!

What all these examples suggest is that technological systems — cavalry, bicycling — sometimes require massive alterations in a society’s culture before they can truly become functional. And once it’s locked in, the cultural solution (pants) to an era’s big problem can be more durable than the activity (horse-mounted combat) that prompted it.

via Q: Why Do We Wear Pants? A: Horses – Alexis Madrigal – The Atlantic.