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Remember gauchos? I don’t know about you guys, but they were a huge hit back at my high school. They were just so flowy and had that way of making you feel dressed down, but still dressed up enough to face the world. But, believe me, that was not my initial impression of gaucho pants.
I wasn’t too keen on gaucho pants when I first laid on eyes on them. They looked ridiculous to me–flapping around at your mid-calves like it was nobody else’s business. I felt like they grabbed people’s attention, but not in a good way. However, when everyone, especially the popular girls, seemed to be rocking their gauchos, I decided to reluctantly dip my toes in the water and buy a pair of the cheapest gauchos I could find. It was a desperate attempt to keep up with the current trends and go along with the crowd.
With harem pants, my initial encounter with them was much, much worse. The first time I laid eyes on harem pants I was at the mall trailing behind some poor girl who appeared to be wearing the most unflattering pair of pants I have ever seen. From the back, it basically looked like she had some crap bouncing around in the back of her pants. The way the bottom of the pants bounced up and down as she walked was such an awkward, unfortunate sight to see.
After that experience, I was scarred for life and swore myself off ever wearing harem pants. I mean, who would want to wear pants in the style of MC Hammer, Aladdin, and, god forbid, Justin Bieber? Maybe some of you do not mind, but I sure did. Then, when harem pants proliferated stores everywhere this spring, I told myself I would not cave, especially after my experience with gauchos–they were cool for about one season and now they just sit in the depths of my closet waiting to be donated. However, when my mom came back from her trip to Asia with a pair of harem pants for me as a gift, I had to give harem pants a second thought. You know that saying–do not look a gift horse in the mouth.
So I wore them. I wore them to dance practice as an experiment–it was a minimal risk situation where I was free to make a subtle statement with my choice of bottoms. That way, if people thought they looked ridiculous, at least it was in a situation where leggings and pants of the sweatpants variety were completely acceptable. And, to my surprise, people said that they did, in fact, like my harem pants.
Today, I hate to admit it, but I have actually grown to like my harem pants. I now think of them as more than just slightly more fashionable loungewear and have taken to wearing them in increasingly more public situations. They are comfortable, but still make a statement. Maybe my aversion to harem pants was unfair and I just needed to give them a chance. Now, that I have come to accept harem pants, I see just how versatile they are. They come in a wider variety of fabrics, silhouettes, and prints than I realized. And, I have to admit, many actually look surprisingly chic and flattering.
So, the question I pose to you now is: Harem Pants–hot or not?
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