Bloomers is a word which has been applied to several types of divided women's garments for the lower body at various times.

Fashion bloomers (skirted)

The original bloomers were an article of women's clothing invented by Elizabeth Smith Miller

Elizabeth Smith Miller

Elizabeth Smith Miller , known as 'Libby' was an advocate and financial supporter of the women’s rights movement and the daughter of antislavery philanthropist Gerrit Smith and spouse, the abolitionist Ann Carroll Fitzhugh. Elizabeth Miller was born September 20, 1822. In 1843, Elizabeth married...

 of Peterboro, New York

Peterboro, New York

Peterboro, located about twenty-five miles southeast of Syracuse, New York, is a historic hamlet situated in the Town of Smithfield, Madison County, New York.-Founding:...

 an early pioneer of the vulcanized rubber girdle, but popularized by Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Bloomer

Amelia Jenks Bloomer was an American women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early and strong advocacy.-Early life:Bloomer came from a family of modest means and...

 in the early 1850s (hence the name, a shortening of "Bloomer suit"). They were long baggy pants narrowing to a cuff at the ankles (worn below a skirt), intended to preserve Victorian decency while being less of a hindrance to women's activities than the long full skirts of the period (see Victorian dress reform

Victorian dress reform

During the middle and late Victorian period, various reformers proposed, designed, and wore clothing supposedly more rational and comfortable than the fashions of the time. This was known as the dress reform or rational dress movement...

). They were worn by a few women in the 1850s, but were widely ridiculed in the press, and failed to become commonly accepted (see 1850s in fashion

1850s in fashion

1850s fashion in Western and Western-influenced clothing is characterized by an increase in the width of women's skirts supported by crinolines or hoops, and the beginnings of dress reform.-Gowns:...

). Bloomer was an insult made up by the newspapers of the time. British explorer Richard Francis Burton

Richard Francis Burton

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...

, travelling across the United States in 1860 noted that he saw only one woman (whom he called a "hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

") wearing bloomers. The costume was called the "American Dress" or "Reform Costume" by the women's activists that wore it. Most of the women who wore the costume were deeply involved in dress reform, abolition, temperance and the women's rights movement. Although practical, the "bloomers" were also an attempt to reform fashion since the majority of "bloomers" were also in upper to middle class and also in the public eye.

These early bloomers were partly an attempt to adapt young girls' short skirts and pantalettes

Pantalettes

Pantalettes are undergarments covering the legs worn by women, girls, and very young boys in the early- to mid-nineteenth century....

 to adult women's attire, and were partly influenced by middle-eastern clothing styles (or what was thought to be middle-eastern styles)—hence the name "Syrian costume".

The word "bloomers" was sometimes used for the wearers of the garments, rather than the garments themselves.

In 1909, fashion designer Paul Poiret

Paul Poiret

Paul Poiret was a French fashion designer. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion have been likened to Picasso's contributions to twentieth-century art.-Early life and career:...

 attempted to popularize harem pants

Sirwal

The sirwal , also known as punjabi pants, are a form of Arabic pants predating the Christian era. They are typically worn in the Arabian Peninsula and other primarily Muslim countries. The drawstring allows a sirwal to be worn at either the waist or hip level...

 worn below a long flaring tunic, but this attempted revival of fashion bloomers under another name did not catch on.

Athletic bloomers (unskirted)

During the late 19th century, athletic bloomers (also known as "rationals" or "knickerbockers

Knickerbockers (clothing)

Knickerbockers are men's or boys' breeches or baggy-kneed trousers particularly popular in the early twentieth century USA. Golfers' plus twos and plus fours were breeches of this type...

") were skirtless baggy knee-length trousers, fastened to the leg a little below the knees; at that time, they were worn by women only in a few narrow contexts of athletic activity, such as bicycle-riding, gymnastics, and sports other than tennis (see 1890s in fashion

1890s in fashion

Fashion in the 1890s in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by long elegant lines, tall collars, and the rise of sportswear.-Women's fashions:...

). Bloomers were usually worn with stockings and after 1910 often with a sailor middy blouse. Bloomers became shorter by the late 1920s. In the 1930s, when it become respectable for women to wear pants and shorts in a wider range of circumstances, styles imitating men's shorts were favored, and bloomers tended to become less common. However, baggy knee-length gym shorts fastened at or above the knees continued to be worn by girls in school physical education classes through to the 1950s in some areas. Some schools in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 still wore them as part of their uniforms into the 1980s.

The Bloomington, Illinois

Bloomington, Illinois

Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...

 entry in the Three-I League

Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League

The Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League was a minor league baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 years, mostly in those three states. It was popularly known as the Three-I League and also sometimes jokingly as the Three-Eye League....

 of minor league baseball

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

, despite being an all-male team, was tagged with the nickname "Bloomers" for several decades in the early 1900s.

Bloomers had been introduced into Japan as clothing for physical education

Physical education

Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

 in the beginning of 20th century. Around after the Olympics in Tokyo

1964 Summer Olympics

The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...

, style of bloomers for P.E. have changed to fit the body which is similar to volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 uniforms used often 1960s to 1990s, then bloomers gave way to sport shorts in most of schools in Japan after middle of 1990s. Bloomers are a type of girl's gym shorts in Japan, pronounced as burumā (more popularly called as buruma) in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

; some people are interested in bloomers in clothing fetish

Clothing fetish

Clothing fetish or garment fetish is a sexual fetish that revolves around a fixation upon a particular article or type of clothing, a collection of garments that appear as part of a fashion or uniform, or a person dressed in such a garment....

 context.

Undergarments

Women's baggy underpants fastened to just below or above the knee are also known as "bloomers" (or as "knickers" or "directoire knickers"). They were most popular from the 1910s to the 1930s but continued to be worn by older women for several decades thereafter. Often the term "bloomers" has been used interchangeably with the pantalettes worn by women and girls in the mid 19th century and the open leg knee length drawers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.