Tandem tour: Pants

A journey through 3,000 years of trouser history

Who’s Wearing the Pants?

In the first part of the tour, curator Barbara Pönighaus-Matuella will guide you through the Who’s Wearing the Pants? exhibition.From a detailed replica of a pair of trousers over 3,000 years old, the original of which was found in a tomb in China, to contemporary designer trousers, you will learn about 50 pairs of trousers and their stories. Whether wrapped, buttoned or laced – two separate openings for the feet are enough to qualify as trousers. The trousers are made using methods ranging from hand-woven and zero waste to environmentally harmful fast fashion production. How many pairs of trousers do we have and need? What will the trousers of the future look like?

Imperial Armoury

In the second part, we embark on a fashionable search for the beginnings of European trouser fashion in the Renaissance and Baroque periods: women were largely excluded from the fashion in steel, which can be found in the Imperial Armoury. This is also reflected in fashion trends that seem curious from today’s perspective, such as the ‘codpiece’, which often took on fantastical forms. The luxurious armour presented here only hints at its origins in practical functional clothing. Instead, textile fashion was meticulously reproduced in steel – including slits, puffs, and fine lace. The disadvantage of such body-hugging custom-made garments was that, unlike their fabric counterparts, the special material did not allow for adjustment to changing body shapes. So, it was especially true that those who wanted to be beautiful often had to suffer to squeeze their legs into skin-tight trousers.

Tour in German.
Tickets:
Participation in the event: €9
An admission ticket is also required.
Meeting point: Hall of Columns