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I've often wondered why do various uniforms have those "poofs" on the outsides of the legs just above the knee? Was there a particular purpose to this, or a practical reason, or was it just the result of uniform designers saying "Hey, I kinda like poofs."

I think it has also been seen in other areas as well. For example, on the poster/cover for the 1970 movie Patton you can see a similar design, though much more pronounced it seems (though that could just be Hollywood exaggeration).

nazi pants

movie poster

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We need a "poofy pants" tag. – harper89 Feb 17 '12 at 4:43
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If WWII=="medium level violence" , what does the MPAA consider high levels of violence? – mgb Feb 18 '12 at 0:02
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I shouldn't really need to note that Patton was NOT a Nazi. – MichaelF Feb 18 '12 at 12:12
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"Hey, I kinda like poofs." - British viewers are going to get a good giggle out of that. – canadiancreed Feb 18 '12 at 16:32
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@Anixx - as a possible experiment - go into a bar in London, find someone with lively cheerful clothes like a football strip and tell them they look gay. – mgb Sep 15 '12 at 17:36
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2 Answers

up vote 31 down vote accepted

These are jodhpurs, a style of pants developed primarily for horseback riding. Their intent was to allow flexibility in the hip and thigh while the more narrow lower portion worked well with riding boots and didn't get caught up in stirrups.

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The Red Army also used them. In Russian they are called by a word "galife" after French general Gaston Alexandre Auguste de Galliffet. He is the man who originally ordered their use.

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+1 for the origin. I hope you don't mind my small edit, its a different language wikipedia page but when translated to English he is now General G. Riding Breeches bwaha. His wiki page didnt mention him as the inventor (unless i misread it) – harper89 Feb 19 '12 at 0:13
Russian wiki does (not sure about invention, but first to order to implement them). – Anixx Feb 19 '12 at 0:18
Yes that is what I meant to say. I can't edit it now though thanks for calling me out on it. – harper89 Feb 19 '12 at 4:17

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