Weekend Edition #30: The Golden Age of Pants

What kind of pants does a psychic wear? Just a paranormal pants!

Hi!

The U.S. election is a little over a week away, it’s been over 70 degrees in New York City, it hasn’t rained here in almost a month, and hurricane recovery is ongoing in the south. The world is a little topsy-turvy, to say the least.

But there’s a small silver lining: we’re living in the Golden Age of Pants.

Now, I don’t mean to make light of our current events, but this is a fashion newsletter, and I think the current state of our pants reveals a lot about our world today.

Per usual, let’s start at the beginning, or at least the beginning of the 20th century. If you trace a line through the last hundred years, you’ll find that Western women’s silhouettes flip-flopped between the S-line and the H-line every decade or so. The S-line is all curves, and considered more “feminine,” while the H-line is straighter, more “boyish,” with strong shoulders and long legs. The 20th century kicked off with the S: women wore corseted dresses, with cinched waists and ballooning skirts and sleeves. But the 1920s saw a rebellion against this silhouette and the S straighted into an H. Think flapper dresses, with low, loose dropped waists and seams that hang straight down from the shoulder. The1930s saw a reaction to that silhouette, with a return to the S-line with bias-cut silk gowns, glamorous and languid. World War II destroyed the world as we knew it. Women were ushered into the workplace, and finally into pants. The H silhouette returned with a vengeance, inspired by military uniforms: strong shoulders, belted waists, and long trousers. Katherine Hepburn. The 1950s? Back to the S, back to the home, with slim little pants and neat dresses. Think Audrey. The 60s: H, Mod. Bell-bottoms. The 70s: S, DVF wrap dresses, and a return to conservatism after the hippie decade. The 80s/early 90s: H, Power Suit and the Supers. The 90s to 2020 were bookended by Kate Moss Minimalism and Kim Kardashian Kurves. In between, skinny jeans dominated for an entire generation and led to the Rise of the Legging. The last 25 years have been about as S-shaped and body-con as it gets.

The S vs H, over the last 100 years

Which brings us to today. We’re witnessing another S/H shift. In fact, I think we may be breaking the S/H continuum, and I certainly hope it’s connected to the possibility of breaking the last glass ceiling on November 6th. Because now, anything goes. And we’re not going back. The New York Historical Society currently has an exhibit up called Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore, The Smith College Historic Clothing Collection, and I was listening to a podcast with the curator who told a story about a woman who was a high-powered corporate lawyer in the late 70s, who wore beautiful dresses to work every day. One Saturday, her team had a work meeting, and she wore what she described as very high-end pants. Fancy pants, if you will. Her male boss turned to her and said, sarcastically, “going to a ball game, later?” Women have had to navigate sartorial rules and expectations for most of the 20th century. It’s only been recently that women can dress like men: however we want.

I’m a Pants Person. I feel best in a pair of pants. I don’t have to worry about a wind tunnel down 40th Street or a gust from a subway grate giving me a Marilyn Monroe moment. I can run like the wind after the Limited bus. I can slide down the slide and swing on the swing with my boys. And now I can find the perfect pair of pants to suit any mood, any occasion, any body type, and any silhouette I want.

We’ve got wide-leg options (

Caroline Chambers

just did a fantastic round-up of wide-leg recommendations from such

Substack

superheroes as

Jane on Jeans

&

Alicia Lund

&

Irene Kim (김애린)

&

Gabby Whiten

&

Grace Atwood

&

Laurel Pantin

- they all did the lord’s work, truly). Pleated styles, straight legs, and my favorite, as you all know, the barrel. I wore my slim ankle pants just last week for the first time in forever, and

Sarah Shapiro

just this week wondered if pants were actually getting slimmer again. The answer is yes! And no! See! ANYTHING GOES!

a few of my favorite pants pics

Let’s talk about the barrel, real quick. In my post about the barrel shape, I posited it has become so popular because it represents cowboy swagger. I think that’s true, but I have an additional theory. I think the barrel shape looks so right to us right now because it gives us an S line, in pants. No bias cut, spandex, or corset required! Instead, the high waist, the curve at the knee, and the taper at the ankle give us a new swerve-y, curvy, swagger-y shape without being body-conscious.

Rocking the S line in relaxed, curved pants.

Just like a sweatshirt calms everything down, a great pair of pants amps everything up. And now, with the cornucopia of styles that have tumbled onto the market, so many great pants are available to take our outfits to the next level with no more effort than tucking in the front of your shirt.

I’ll give you a little tip on buying pants. If a brand is standing behind their pants and offering them in a wide range of colors and inseams, they’re probably good pants. Because investing in pants is a headache. It requires a ton of investment and inventory to set up sizing, offer different inseams, and nail the fit. A brand just won’t do it, if they don’t believe they have a strong bestseller on their hands (or legs, as the case may be).

(A quickish note on inseams: I don’t know why every brand doesn’t include the inseam length on their product pages for pants. This is critical information, people! I will close a tab faster than you can ask, “what kind of pants does a psychic wear,” if there’s no inseam info. For reference I’m 5’1” and my ideal inseam is 26” - this will hit at my ankle or top of foot and allow me to pull off a full-length look in a pair of flats and a cropped look in a pair of heels. If you’re short, do not go longer than a 27” inseam unless you want to get your pants hemmed. If you’re between 5’4”and 5’6” you can go 26”- 28” inseam. Above 5’6”? Lucky duck. 28” will be the shortest inseam you probably want to wear, and that will be a true mid-shin crop.)

Ok, now, without further ado, I present my Gold Medal Pants in the year 2024, our Golden Age of Pants. Drumroll, please.

The Gold Medalists (details and links below!)

The Wide Leg

• Anthropologie Colette Pant: Available in Full-Length, Cropped, Tall, Petite, Plus, and myriad fabrications like twill, corduroy, faux leather, brushed knit, sparkle denim, and contrast stitch. They also come in a ton of prints, but I think they look richer in more cotton-rich fabrics (like the twill, cord, and my personal fave, the linen.) This is the definition of an evergreen style that gets a spruce up every season. (P.S. I throw mine in the drier every few wears to shrink back up.)

The Barrel

• Nili Lotan Shon Pant: The perfect barrel shape for that sassy S-line! Even self-described Skirt Person, Hillary Kerr, loves these pants. Size down, like maybe two sizes. Also available in a few remaining sizes in Cord and Leather (drool).

The Slim Leg

• Theory Treeca Pant: A very nice little slim ankle pant. I have a pull-on linen blend style, but this is a nice wool option, with 96% wool and 4% spandex. (Elizabeth Cardinal recently wrote An Ode to Cigaratte Pants and recommended eight more options, if you’d like to peruse those.)

The Kick Flare

• High Sport Kick Cropped Stretch Pants: I can’t write about pants and not write about the High Sport Pant. I can’t remember the last time a women’s brand launched with a pant. (See above re: investment.) It helps that this is a knit and alpha-sized (versus numeric or waist-sized) but still. This is a brand based around an $860 hero item pant…and they’re crushing it. But I gotta admit, I’ve never bought nor tried this pant. If you have, PLEASE TELL US YOUR TRUEST THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS! I’ve heard this J.Crew pant is a decent dupe at a much more reasonable price point, although the high performance of the High Sport pant is unmatched and took the founder years to develop with Italian mills. But again, can’t speak from experience. (Interestingly, High Sport also just launched a Slim Pant.)

The Chino Pant (women’s)

• COS Cotton Twill Chino: I’ve worked on more men’s chinos in my lifetime than any other pair of pants, and this is the first women’s chino that I think has gotten it right. The fabric is smooth and slightly peached like a menswear chino, but the slight barrel leg shape is modern (versus a straight or slim leg chino, which goes school uniform fast.) There are tabs to adjust the waist, meaning you can wear it more slouchy or more fitted. And the inseam is 26.02” (thanks for being so specific, COS!), which means it shows off my shoes to perfection.

The Chino Pant (men’s)

• Todd Snyder Straight Fit Favorite Chino: Todd Snyder was the head of Men’s Design at J.Crew for years and years before he launched his namesake brand. So if you like the classic J.Crew chino, you’ll love this one. (It’s also available in Relaxed - guys, your pants are getting looser again, too.) Everything about this chino is just a little more refined. If you’re in NYC, there is a beautiful flagship on the north side of Madison Square Park, a gorgeous jewel box of a store in Rockefeller Center, and a brand new location on Madison Avenue. Take your partner and make an afternoon out of it.

The Workhorse (women’s)

• The Aritzia Effortless Pant: This pant has gone viral on TikTok. Need I say more? Ok, I will. It comes in four lengths (although it is meant to hit the ground when worn with heels, so the shortest inseam is 28” - slightly too long for me since I live in NYC, don’t usually wear heels, and can’t be risking any drag on the streets - gross.) But wait! It also comes in Cropped, so I’m covered, as well as Wide, Curve, Flex, and Shorts. I counted at least 10 fabrics, and up to 20 colors in the most popular fabrication (Japanese wrinkle-free “crepette”). There are small knife pleats at the waist and an easy drape that can take you from the office to dinner or the airport to a VIP meeting.

The Workhouse (men’s)

• Rhone Commuter Pant: This is the pant I buy for my husband (despite working for another men’s brand). It’s super comfortable, with 4-way stretch, washes well (air dry - although I’ve thrown it into the dryer by mistake and it’s held up), and comes in Classic, Slim, and 5 Pocket. It also comes in eight different inseam lengths, ranging from 26” to 33" - must be nice.

The Wildcard

• ME + EM: This British brand recently arrived in the U.S., and I’m super impressed with its quality and styling. They have a huge selection of thoughtfully designed pants, and I bought a few pairs this summer, including a wide-leg crop with tall cuffs in a swishy crepe that makes me feel like I’m a cross between a sailor and a chic French protagonist, a pair of tapered black pants that are actually fun to wear (a fate that does not befall most black pants), a slim check ankle pant with a matching check blazer, and a pair of thick, cozy sweatpants that look like regular pants if you squint. Since that’s what I’m usually doing on a plane when I trade my contact lenses for glasses, they work for me as overnight flight pants/pjs on work trips to Amsterdam. I need to close their tab right now because I like too many other styles, including a few cargos, which might be the next frontier of pants for me. Message me if you find anything you like, so I can live vicariously!!

The point is: our pants are changing, our world is changing. What once felt like a march forward on a steady line now feels like a maze. In both fashion and life. There’s a thrilling sense of discovery, but I also fear we may lose our way.

More information is available than ever, more disinformation, more intelligence, and more artificial intelligence. More wealth, more stealth, more overt poverty. More social media, yet less socialization. We’re seeing all this in our clothes - the sheer volume and variety of how we dress - and how we live. Micro-trends and micro-interests.

This could be scary, in the wrong hands. But it also represents a powerful opportunity for self-expression and acceptance. Every single person on the planet looks different, dresses differently, and believes and wants different things. Because we’re all unique beings. No two are alike. But, if we can learn to move together, perhaps like a school of fish, agreeing on a direction, moving individually yet in unison, we can protect ourselves from the whirlpools, and the whirlwinds, with more success and less sacrifice. We can make life better for ourselves and each other, if we work together, not against each other. And we can look and feel good while we’re at it.

EXTRA THOUGHTS

• Substack
  is so much fun. Where else can you casually chat with one of your favorite authors like
  Annabel Monaghan
  while getting to devour even more of her delicious words? It has been a great reminder that we’re all in this together and we all have something to share.

• J.Crew just dropped a collaboration with Christopher John Rogers that’s so bright and fresh and perfect for holiday parties. Especially this and these!!!

• Meanwhile GAP did a hoodie collaboration with Julia Huynh, a TikTok “content creator” whose “gone viral” (these words…) with her series reviewing the best sweatshirts. GAP was disappointed that she never featured any GAP styles, so they reached out to Julia, and together they created the ultimate “hoodie that hoodies.” I love the weight and colors but don’t love the sizing. They needed to go wider in their range to capture a truly gender-neutral audience.

• A lot of you sent me the news about the former A&F CEO being arrested and accused of heinous crimes. The rumors were loud when I was there, but never that awful. All I’ll add is that when I worked there, the receptionists at the front desk were male models who threw a football around as we scurried into work and that Mike Jeffries hosted quarterly parties at his house to celebrate earnings (I was a lowly assistant so thank god was never invited).

WHAT I BOUGHT

• I was influenced by this Wirecutter review and the headline “The Best Tee I Ever Bought Came from a Midwestern Strip Mall,” to buy this. It’s made by Comfort Colors (which I think is owned by Gildan, a huge knit manufacturer) and is a great weight, comes in a range of garment-dyed colors, and looks vintage-y. I’m still on the fence about the ethics of a $10 tee, but I assume they’re making millions and achieving some economies of scale while hopefully paying fair wages.

• The Hey Gang sweatshirt was restocked! Mine is on the way!

• My Kamala sweatshirt that I ordered six weeks ago is also on the way! I hope it becomes a lucky charm.

• I bought these Toteme loafer block heels on sale at the end of the summer, and they are GREAT. I just walked 40 blocks in them last night after only wearing them a few times, and there’s not a blister in sight. They will go with ALL the pants I listed above. Honestly, even the sweatpants. There are also a few left here.

As always, thanks for reading!

x Lindsay