zoave - adjective and noun (
Lifestyle and
Leisure ) adjective: Of trousers for women: cut wide at the top, with folds of material
at the hips, and tapered into a narrow ankle. noun: (In the plural zouaves) women's trousers of this design. Etymology: Named after the Algerian Zouave regiment of the French army,
who wore a uniform with trousers of this shape (known as peg-top trousers) in the middle of the nineteenth century. History and Usage: This is an example of an old word which
has been revived in modern fashion and applied in a slightly different context. In the late nineteenth century there was a fashion for garments of various kinds (
particularly women's short jackets and men's peg-top trousers) which copied the uniform of the Zouave regiment and were known as Zouave
jacket , Zouave trousers, etc. When wide-topped, draped trousers became a fashion item for women in the 1980s, the
word was reapplied to
them , and this
time round also came to be used as a noun in its own right. First came the ankle-length Zouaves, looking a bit like baggies gone berserk, worn under two layers of
fitted , belted coats with full skirts, Russian peasant hats with tassels and ankle-high boots. Then came the shorter Zouaves, like knee-length bloomers. Washington Post 22 Apr. 1981, section B, p.
3 Zouave pants with elasticated waist and two pockets. Grattan Direct Catalogue Spring-Summer 1989, p. 218
