Le pantalon de cuisinier

The houndstooth pattern comes from a particular weaving, repeated identically. Each thread is dyed, leaving this unique pattern to emerge during the weaving process. One might think that this pattern is primarily aesthetic, but its popularity is actually due to its strength, as this weave provides unsurpassed resistance. 

Historically, it finds its roots in those of the tartan, in the Scottish Lowlands, since 1880. It is designed for those who cannot wear the tartan, precisely because they do not have titles of nobility and do not belong to any clan. Some would say that the houndstooth becomes, by deduction, the motif of those who do not want to fight. Escaping the clan feuds, it is, indeed, the pattern of merchants, craftsmen, and shepherds. In contrast to the tartan, where each variation of the pattern identifies a specific clan, the houndstooth remains a neutral pattern, not governed by any aristocratic rules.

From the Scottish Lowlands to the wardrobe of everyone, there remained a path that, paradoxically, the English aristocracy has helped to cross. In 1934, Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, posed for Vogue wearing a houndstooth suit. He creates a symbolic inversion of this motif originally popular, now a sign of nobility. The houndstooth is then found in the outfits worn by the aristocracy, during weekends in the English countryside. 

In 1938, the French house Dior was the first to use this pattern in haute couture. Suits, dresses, shoes, accessories, the houndstooth is gradually distilled into fashion and quickly becomes desirable to all. The 1940s and the prospect of war slightly calm this craze for the houndstooth, which reappeared in the 1950s in the locker rooms of young Italians, this time. From London to Rome, through Paris, the houndstooth is imposed as an elegant, noble and already unisex. Declined in pants, suits, as in dresses, it joins the locker rooms of boys and girls, without distinction. 

It was not long before the professionals took hold of this solid and resistant knit. The houndstooth pants entered the professional kitchen brigades and became an essential part of the uniform. In addition to its solidity, it has the advantage, not to be neglected for a cook, to hide the stains with ease. Designed and awarded for its functionality, like all the pieces proposed by deTOUJOURS, it has the particularity to be rolled up inside, thanks to an ingenious seam. Indeed, the outside hem, not very hygienic, can receive food that has been accidentally dropped during the preparation of the meals. 

The houndstooth no longer has to prove its pedigree, in the city, in the kitchen or on the catwalk. Many haute couture houses have made it their signature, Dior, Chanel, McQueen, among others.