---
node: garment_bombachas
type: garment
slug: bombachas
title: "Bombachas"
lead: "The bombachas are the loose, pleated riding trousers of the gaucho, wide at the leg and gathered to a buttoned cuff at the ankle. Cool, roomy, and practical for the saddle, they replaced the older chiripá as the working trousers of the South American plains."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: bombachas.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gauchos_Uruguayos.jpg"
image_author: "https://www.flickr.com/people/vincealongi/"
image_license: "CC BY 2.0"
---

## Overview

Bombachas are baggy trousers pleated full at the waist and tapering to a narrow ankle closed with buttons or a strap, made of stout cotton or wool. The fullness gives free movement on horseback and in ranch work, while the cuffed ankle tucks neatly into the boot.

## How it is worn

They are worn with a shirt, a wide tirador belt, soft boots, and often a poncho or jacket, plain and hard-wearing for work and finer for show at rodeos and festivals. The cut suits the long hours and hard riding of the estancia, and it remains the everyday trouser of the countryman.

## History

The bombachas came into use among the gauchos of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil in the later nineteenth century, said to derive from surplus military trousers of Middle Eastern cut, and displaced the wrapped chiripá. They are still the standard working and traditional dress of the Rioplatense countryside.