SLNSW 130747 CH Fawcett Australian Open pro amateur

Plus fours are

breeches Breeches ( ) are an article of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each human leg, leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. Formerly a standard item of Weste ...

or trousers that extend four inches (10 cm) below the

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

(and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). Knickerbockers have been traditionally associated with sporting attire since the 1860s. Plus fours were introduced in the 1920s and became popular among sportsmen—particularly

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

ers and game shooters—as they allowed more freedom of movement than knickerbockers.''Fashion Encyclopedia''
Plus fours
An "extravagant, careless style that fit right in with the looser fashions and lifestyles of the 1920s", plus fours were introduced to the United States by Edward, Prince of Wales (later

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

), during a trip in 1924. They were later brought back to prominence by the professional golfer

Payne Stewart William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won eleven PGA Tour events, including three major championships, the last of which came just a few months before his death in an airplane acci ...

who wore them on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

(active years 1982–1999). In 2008, plus fours were featured in André Benjamin's Benjamin Bixby clothing line, which was based on clothing worn by

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

athletes in the 1930s. Less known are plus twos, plus sixes, and plus eights, of similar definitions, but varying lengths.''Esquire's encyclopedia of 20th century men's fashions'', by O. E. Schoeffler, William Gale, 1973
p.674
/ref>

References

Sportswear Trousers and shorts Breeches Golf equipment History of clothing (Western fashion) {{clothing-stub