How the Capri Pants Empowered Women and the Rebel Woman Who Invented Them
Pants for women – what an outrage! Today, we can hardly imagine the scandal – we just open the wardrobe and do not even question what we are wearing. But this has not always been the case – the right to wear pants had to be fought for and it happened in small steps. Up until the 1970s, women in pants were media worthy, men who walked with a woman could be fined or even jailed and department stores like Harrods barred entry for women in pants. When women became more and more empowered from the 1950s onwards, this revolution was also reflected in their clothing and pants played a crucial part – and one type of pants, the so-called Capri pants took it even a step further. This article focuses on how fashion can be used as a vehicle for political messages and it also introduces you to Sonja de Lennart, the rebel woman who dared to crop pants and turn them not only into a global trend but also a political statement.
You can also watch my video here:
The Capri Pants in Context – Women and Pants in the 1940s
Let’s travel back to the 1940s, when women were rarely spotted in pants. Despite the efforts of some designers, such as Gabrielle Chanel, pants for a very long time kept being considered menswear. The Second World War had a major impact on clothing – on the one hand, supplies were limited, on the other, women were working in industries which had been predominantly male before the war and appreciated more practical clothing. While Christian Dior’s “New Look” promoted a feminine silhouette with A-line skirts after the war, something else was brewing and it was something major – the Capri pants would soon take over the (fashion) world by storm. These Capri pants are considered classics today, some may even consider the style a bit boring or conform. But back then, this was a small revolution, women in pants were something polarizing and newsworthy for a very long time.[1]
Sonja de Lennart Invents the Capri Pants
And this is how it all began: Despite the name “Capri pants” after the Italian island of Capri, this infamous garment was actually invented in Germany – of all places, you probably did not expect this. I certainly did not, I thought they were created by Italian designers. Germany is not the first thing which would come to my mind.[2]
Let’s travel to what was then called Prussia and let’s meet a young, rebellious women: Sonja de Lennart, who is 104 years old today and who was born in Breslau, today Wroclaw in Poland, in 1920. She admired the German star Marlene Dietrich who wore men’s pants but the wide “Marlene Pants” did not fit her petite size – de Lennart is 1.52m, or 5ft.1in., similar to Elizabeth Taylor or Lady Gaga. For the Dietrich-style, women needed to be tall.[3]
De Lennart’s father was a businessman and despite her family’s, and especially her father’s objections, she wanted to enter fashion and studied fashion design in Berlin. The petite Sonja de Lennart started to experiment with feminine looking pants which would look great on any woman, and especially also petite women like herself. But her experiment was interrupted by political events. It was 1944/45, at the end of World War II., De Lennart and her family were forced to flee from the Russians. She escaped an attempted rape by Russian soldiers by jumping out of a window on the first floor – while she was pregnant with her second daughter and holding her first daughter Eleonora. She survived, but soon their home was bombed and they were buried under the ruins. She managed to survive again and escape to Bavaria where she arrived on a cattle cart without any belongings.[4]
Despite all the difficulties her family had already endured, Sonja de Lennart was determined to earn money and reinstate the family’s lost fortune by coming back to her passion: for her family by selling clothes, she would be the one to reinstate her family’s lost fortune. She tailored her first collection for which she used all kinds of materials as fabrics were rare due to the war: curtains, bedspreads, parachute silk. This first collection consisted of jackets, dresses, skirts, blouses, an imitation leather coat and the garment on which she had already worked on in Prussia, the chic pants for all types of women. She named the collection “Capri” and launched it in 1945. In 1948 she opened her boutique in Munich.[5]
While working on the collection on the floor, one of her treats was the chocolate sent by her American family as a “care package”. After the hardships of the 1930s and 1940s, Sonja had not given up hope that there would be beauty again. And one of her places of longing became the island of Capri, where her family had spent their holidays before they had lost everything. Capri for her became synonymous with freedom and joy.[6]
It was probably a place of longing for many – Germany was completely destroyed and the dreams about Italy, its sunshine and the blue sea distracted from the grey reality. And let’s be honest, the allure of Capri which would later become a destination loved by the jet set was a different one from Bavaria right after the war. It may have even been a clever marketing strategy. In an interview, de Lennart said that the name of the pants is closely linked to the image of the fishermen in Capri who were also the main theme of many songs. “Caprifischer” (if we translated it literally it would be “Capri fishermen”) by Ralph Maria Siegel and Gerhard Winkler would become one of the most famous songs in the German-speaking countries. But it was forbidden by the Nazis because the Americans had landed on Capri in 1943. In 1948, the song sung by Rudi Schuricke became a huge hit and is still very famous until today. Due to these songs and an overall boost for Italy as a tourism destination, Capri became a popular holiday destination for Germans during the “Wirtschaftswunder”, the “economic miracle”, after the war.[7]
When de Lennart launched her first collection in 1945, the pants were not the only garment named after the Italian island which she loved so much – there was the Capri skirt, blouse, belt and coat. This first version of the Capri pants was actually a winter-style. It was adapted for summer when de Lennart travelled to Capri after the war and waded through the water – realizing they needed to be cut shorter and she also made them a bit tighter resulting in the signature style of the Capri pants we know today. (photo Erni und Madi). The legs were accentuated due to the cropped length – these pants ended above the ankles, the summer version just below the knee, and also had a small slit – quelle horreur! This famous “Schlitzchen” was small and a practical detail to make it easier to put the pants on, but its impact was big – again, the standards of what was outrageous were different from today and it soon became a major characteristic, maybe even a trademark, of de Lennart’s Capri pants which she also took up in further garments such as blouses. Furthermore, de Lennart moved the waistline above the hips to achieve a smaller waistline.[8]
What sounds straightforward today, was a major effort for women’s rights at the time. According to the designer, many young people today can wear whatever they want and they do not realize that these pants stood for a major revolution. When the Capri pants were launched in the 1940s, only a few women such as Marlene Dietrich dared to wear pants. Even as late as the 1970s, Katherine Hepburn and her pants ensemble for the Oscars ceremony was all over the news. Women like Dietrich and Hepburn stirred up the media but also could get away with wearing pants. For the average woman, pants were still not allowed in public – in many European countries, men were not allowed to accompany a woman in pants in public, they risked being fined or even arrested. Catholic schools did not allow girls to wear pants. Restaurants in London did not allow women in pants access and the London department store Harrod’s had a sign prohibiting women in pants to enter the building. In Germany, where de Lennart was based, the situation was not different. During the time of the German Wirtschaftswunder in the 1950s, women were supposed to be feminine and “gepflegt”, which means neat. “Hosenweiber”, a negative term to refer to women in pants, were a scandal. Actor Senta Berger was denied access to a hotel in Germany, because she wore pants (a normal practice which would be in place until the 1970s). Even as late as 1970, when politician Lenelotte von Bothmer gave a speech in pants, the outcry was enormous and she even received hate mail. According to de Lennart, women were not able to use their full potential in cumbersome dresses and skirts; they were taught to feel lesser than. For her, Capri stood for that freedom, the freedom to wear pants, and in the long-run, enter the men’s world and become leaders in politics and business. For those who dared to wear pants at the time, they most likely wore wider cut ones. De Lennart’s interpretation was more feminine, and daring, and she herself said in interviews that she wanted to create something sexy (sic!).[9]
The Capri Pants Conquer the World
De Lennart gained access to her first American clients through her cousin Arno Bennet, an LA-based movie producer who was also a friend of Gregory Peck. Slowly, de Lennart made a name for herself amongst costume designers, movie companies and opera directors. Soon, celebrities followed suit: actor Ingrid Bergmann in America and Erni Mangold in the German-speaking countries, even Queen Soraya became a fan of de Lennart’s Capri pants. The big breakthrough came when Paramount costume designer Edith Head chose the Capri collection for Audrey Hepburn’s movie “Roman Holiday” in 1953. Until today, Head’s name is one of the most famous in fashion, she won several Academy Awards for her costumes, and dressed actors such as Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Roman Holiday not only made Audrey Hepburn famous but also the pants she was wearing: Edith Head had put the Capri pants on the map.[10]
Audrey Hepburn at the set of Roman Holiday in what would soon become her signature fashion style.
Another major step was the movie Sabrina in 1954 which would also cement Hepburn’s signature fashion style. Head then turned to Hubert de Givenchy for the costumes. What looks relaxed and simple today was revolutionary: Firstly, it was pants themselves, and these daring pants were combined with ballerina flats instead of high heels. This outfit replaced the corseted silhouette of Dior’s New Look. An interesting development in fashion history is that today, many people link Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy and, therefore, assume it was him who designed Hepburn’s Capri pants – but the original design was by Sonja de Lennart.[11]
Soon, other celebrities followed and fell in love with Capri pants. Marilyn Monroe famously wore a simple black jumper with white Capri pants. Further fans were Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner. This shift from Dior’s New Look towards this relaxed style with cropped pants also reflected the developments regarding the women’s movement in the late 1950s and 1960s – women became more independent and they needed clothes reflecting their new lifestyle which allowed them more freedom of movement. Clothes were supposed to not only make the wearer look great, they also needed to be practical.[12]
Mary Tyler Moore heavily influenced the image of women in the 1960s and 1970s and also promoted the Capri pants.
Another significant boost of the Capri pants was by Mary Tyler Moore who played Laura Petrie, a housewife, in the 1960s and also appeared on the Dick van Dyke Show. The actor mentioned in an interview years later that she insisted on wearing pants as Laura Petrie because she wanted to make a point that women of the 1960s did not wear full skirts to clean the house. Initially, the TV network only agreed to one scene with pants but gradually Mary Tyler Moore made them into regulars on the show and most likely also influenced the image of women at the time.[13]
As mentioned before, Capri’s image changed a lot in the 1960s and 1970s. After the war, Italy slowly established itself as a major tourist destination. As mentioned in the article about the History of Fashion Week, American movies set in Italy created the allure of holidays in “Bella Italia”. Soon, the international jet set discovered Capri for themselves and until today, Capri benefits from this glamorous image. One famous fan of the island was also Jackie Kennedy Onassis – while she spent a significant amount in her second husband’s home Greece, she also loved Capri and there are iconic pictures of her wearing the Capri pants with her signature big sunglasses.[14]
The Capri pants are not a forgotten garment from the past, there have been constant revivals of the pants. I remember the late 1990s and early 2000s, I practically lived in Capri pants in summer which I paired with my white Adidas Superstars. My favorite was a pair of bright red Capri pants. And even today, the Capri pants are experiencing a revival on the runways and are a loved staple by celebrities.
Even though, de Lennart today is often in the shadows of the big – mostly male – names, she has been one of the most influential female designers and designers overall. Her Capri pants inspired many designers after her and her contribution to female empowerment cannot be forgotten.
The French Magazine „ICON“ wrote:
“The exact definition of existentialism is as follows: “Man is free and responsible for his actions”, a doctrine that corresponds with designer Sonja de Lennart, born May 21, 1920, in Prussia). This great woman, too little known today, decided to venture into fashion in a postwar world that left room for hope, audacity, and creation. The name Sonja gave to this broader ready-to-wear collection was an homage to the famous Italian island of Capri. She designed dresses and coats, but the greatest success of all would be a pair of pants. These famous pants created in 1948 stop mid-calf – a perfect compromise between pants, too classic, and Bermuda shorts, unflattering, unglamorous, and outdated – and had their golden age in the 60s. A true pioneer of her times, Sonja has been inspiring the greatest fashion houses for […] [decades].”
Let’s honor this major impact of the Capri pants on women’s empowerment and the innovative and daring trailblazer Sonja de Lennart who invented them and wear them with pride this summer.
Special thanks to Sonja de Lennart and her team, especially Christine McCarty.
Footnotes
[1] 1stdibs 2024, ARD Mittagsmagazin 2024, Bayerischer Rundfunk 2024, El País 2024, De Lennart Inc. 2024, Isola di Capri 2024a and 2024b, Official Website of Sonia de Lennart 2024, ZDF 2024.
[2-14] ibid.
Sources
1stdibs, A Short History of Capri Pants, on the 100th Birthday of their Inventor. Once considered a controversial item of clothing, fashion designer Sonja de Lennart’s creation is now a bona fide classic, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
ARD Mittagsmagazin, Interview mit Sonja de Lennart, published on YouTube on 19 July 2015, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
Bayerischer Rundfunk, Sonja de Lennart Interviewed by Susane Nusslein the inventor of the original Capri Pants, published on YouTube on 13 June 2021, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
De Lennart Inc., Catalogue, supplied by De Lennart Inc. in July 2024.
El Pais, The history of capri pants, the design that encouraged women around the world to forget skirts and dresses, published on 2 September 2023, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
Isola di Capri, La ribelle che inventò i Capri Pants, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
Isola di Capri, Sonja de Lennart e i Capri pants, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
Official Website of Sonia de Lennart “Original Capri”, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
ZDF, Report about the Capri Pants, published on YouTube on 25 Jun 2021, last accessed on 6 June 2024.
Disclaimer
This article is based on the personal, views, experiences and research of the author, no fees were received by the organisations and people mentioned above. All information as of the date of publishing/updating.