The long garment, reaching to the ankles, is the shared symbol of those who do no physical labor. When physical labor and gainful employment were incompatible with the status of the free noble, the lord wore the long garment and the laborer the trousers. In China there still is the same distinction between mandarin and coolie (day laborer) today. Here in Austria the clergy underline, through the wearing of a cassock, that theirs is not a gainful occupation. Today the men of the upper classes have won the right to free employment, but on ceremonial occasions they still wear a garment that reaches to their knees, the frock coat.

Society has not yet granted women from these classes the right to pursue gainful employment. In those classes where she has that right, she also wears trousers. One need only think of the women coal miners in Belgium, the dairymaids in the alpine pastures and the female prawn fishers of the North Sea.

Why a Man Should be Well Dressed - Adolf Loos. P.69