Fashion News Report: The Harem Pant

Michaelah Frisby

The Art Institute of Atlanta

Fashion News Report: The Harem Pant

Harem pants are women's pants usually made of soft fabric and having full legs gathered at the ankle (Dictionary.com. 2014). This style of pants was first seen about 2000 years in Persia where both men and women wore harem pants in representation of modesty among their middle-eastern tribes. In the 1800s, however, the pants became a major controversy. At the time, women were fighting for their rights in reference to equality, and the harem pant was the perfect uniform for this movement. After the post-suffragist days, the pants lost their prominence and power. Yet, a resurgence of the pants came about in the American and Western Europe culture when French designer Paul Poiret included oriental and Persian influences in his 1909 collection (Fashion Trends. 2014). The pants now had intricate beading, silk, & satin material, and and oriental designs. These new embellishments gave the trousers a much more feminine approach. Harem pants adopted the name “parachute pants” in the 1990s, thanks to American rapper MC Hammer. The rapper can be seen wearing the pants in his hit single “U Can't Touch This.” The trousers now featured a more tapered leg and larger crotch drop, as well as brightly colored designs. Today, harem pants are stylish and modern chic. Among the high fashion designer that have reinvented the trousers are Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen. Harem pants are most popular because of their versatility. They can be dressed up with a blazer and some pumps -like what was recently seen on Kim Kardashian -or they can be dressed down with a t-shirt and some tennis shoes, like an outfit Gwen Steffani was recently seen wearing (Licata. 2014). These trousers are perfect for any woman with a slim half top