I apologize if this has been dealt with before but I couldn't easily find it with the search function and it was bugging me.

In pop-culture when one thinks of the daring swashbuckler, many of us might think of The Princess Bride, or Zorro, or one of the various incarnations of the Three Musketeers movies waving around "rapiers" as if they were modern fencing foils.

This question is not about the swords.....its about the outfit.

In all of the above movies, from Wesley's "Dread Pirate Roberts" costume, to Zorro, to movie versions of Rochefort and the Three Musketeers we see characters wearing all black with long pants and high cut boots and sometimes we see these cool looking leather doublets or jerkins....or whatever they're supposed to be.

Presumably due to this influence, I end up seeing such outfits worn everywhere from Ren Faires to Conventions of various types. Its so ingrained that even MRL sells a "swordsman" outfit.

Is this all modern Hollywood costuming with their long pants, boots and leather doublets? Or is there an actual historical basis for these slim fitting "swordsman" clothes? I tried looking up various historical fashions but haven't seen anything close to these styles seen albeit my resources on the subject are limited.

I always thought those costumes were (very) loosely based on the "Cavalier" style of the mid 17th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier