In the Early Victorian era, there arose American Mrs. Amelia Bloomer who caused quite a stir when she wrote and article in her feminist publication “The Lily” promoting the idea of women abandoning their petticoats and corsets for a “bi-furcated garment” later called “Bloomers”.
Mrs. Bloomer had seen trousers worn by Turkish women, and suggested all women would benefit by removing their voluminous skirts.
(Featured: 1858 Bloomers in insane asylums)
(Sketches below: Mrs. Bloomer shown in early concepts of her bloomers)