Wrap Pants

[Tom_Ranger]

Cotton Wrap Pants is something I have worn for over 20 years and I never see anybody talk about them when it comes to a soft kit, and they look fairly easy to make. For both Men and Women they can be tied and worn in a number of ways on the upper as well as the lower legs. Using separate leg wraps could enhance this as well.

Wrap Pants.jpeg (196.04 KiB) Viewed 2897 times

Here is a link to a video on how to wear them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0CX-3hzs0I

[Manveruon]

I’ve always shied away from this style because, to me, pants like this read as kinda’ “Ren Faire Uniform.” But I admit that lately I’ve been toying with the idea of adapting a wrap-pants pattern for use as braies/underwear. Seems like it would achieve a similar look to how a lot of linen braies were depicted in Middle Ages artwork.

[Tom_Ranger]

From a very simplistic approach. Suppose you had no clothes at all. Completely naked and all you had was some blankets. I think a Rauna Cloak / Tunic and Wrap pants, Sash, and Leg wraps would be the quickest easiest things to make.

[Yavion]

These were super popular in the mid to late 90s in the boho-hippie crowd. They were called Thai Fisherman pants at the time.
They're interesting. Kind of like un-pleated, open sided hakama.

[Eofor]

I don't like them. I mean I wear them myself in the garden but they don't work aesthetically for me as any Middle Earth garb we have described.

Beyond my personal likes and dislikes there is this to consider -

In 2011 a woven wool tunic melted out of the Lend glacier at a mountain pass in Norway. The garment has been dated to between 230 and 390 CE, making it the oldest piece of clothing found in Norway.
The Lendbreen Tunic has been reconstructed for exhibition, and as research into prehistoric textile production. It has a fairly simple pattern. The main body section is one piece, with sleeves set in curved sleeve openings. It has a straight boat neckline with a small raised rim on the back edge. The fabrics used are two slightly different 2/2 diamond twills. During the reproduction process, the production time was measured in terms of labour hours used for the main stages: collecting, sorting, spinning, weaving, finishing treatment and sewing the wool.
The estimated total work time for the tunic was just over 402 hours!!

Asking my wife to spin and weave an additional 400 hours worth of fabric for me to have pleats? I'd rather face Carcharoth on a bad day!

[Elleth]

Hrm - I don't think they work for Eriador, given a lack of cotton and the breeches of the northern men being some of the few things the Professor actually spoke on regarding clothing. Which isn't to say they can't be quite useful in their own right, of course. Or even that they or something like them wasn't in use somewhere in Middle-earth.

Is Yavion right, they're basically unpleated, open-sided hakama?

[Cimrandir]

Nah, not for me or "my" Middle-earth. As Manv said, far too Ren-fairey and as Eofor said, way too much material waste for a presumably hardscrabble culture like the Dúnedain. Pass.