“There’s one thing about the bicycle craze,” said a tailor. “I believe it is going to revolutionize men’s attire, which has been so somber for so many years. Dress reformers have done much for women, but men’s clothing is practically the same year in and year out. The leaders of fashion are not as a rule robust, and the chaps who lead cotillions have small legs. If the wheel develops their calves, as it will, I believe the age of short clothes will return, and knee-breeches for evening dress may be seen again in drawing-rooms. Bloomers are popular, for a shapely woman likes folks to know it. Thin-legged men have a chance to build up their calves in summer for the winter’s gaiety.”
So men get bloomer-equivalents, eh? A cotillion is a dance (or ball), popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Knee-breeches were popular in the 18th century, (see for example, the Signing of the Declaration of Independence), but never seemed to really come back into style.
The tailor quoted apparently believes a thick calf is sexier — or perhaps he’s just suggesting that men are becoming “toned” (to use the modern phrase) and will probably want to show it off. He probably never anticipated the advent of the muscle magazine.