Pants!

Where I grew up there was a shop that only sold jeans by the name of, "Just Pants." Whenever we'd pass by, my mother would shout, "Ha! That's just pants!" and she continued to do so until the place finally went out of business. I wasn't similarly tickled by the name at the time, but I do appreciate the oddness of hearing trousers called "pants" if you've always used the term to describe underwear. With that in mind, let me begin by pointing out that these are indeed, Big Pants!

When I first spotted the set at the costume shops's vintage rail, I thought they were 30's beach pajamas. They're not. The material is a heavy rayon crepe, and the wide legs would seem to fit with the period, but these are late 50's/early 60's. The maker doesn't even have a registered name patent until the mid-50's. What I suspect they represent is a 50's/60's version of nostalgia. Clearly, these were intended as resort-wear ("From Milan to Miami" proudly proclaimed on the label) in a period when women still wouldn't regularly wear trousers. Would this outfit have gone out to dinner in the 50's? Probably not, but they might have made it to the hotel brunch. I doubt very much they ever saw the beach (perhaps the boardwalk) and this pair still had the original paper tags inside next to the woven label.

The fabric is a very nice crepe, and the print appears to be screen-printed on with some sort of plastick-y paint. I dry cleaned the set not wanting to take any chances (rayon crepe doesn't do well in water under the best of circumstances, and I really have my doubts about the paint). The blouse has French cuffs, and are made in such a way that you could supply your own cuff links, or use the fabric covered buttons. I've run across a number of women's blouses from the 50's and 60's that sport French cuffs though finding women's cuff links from the same period is less common (I have a few sets, but I don't think the fashion lasted long enough for the accessories to become all that widespread).

The photos don't really convey just how wide these trousers are. And long. I rolled the waist, and put on the tallest pair of heels I own-and they're still cleaning up the floor. I'm hesitating to shorten them as I don't think this is something I'd wear, and I want them for my collection. If something happened where there was another fad for gigantic pants (heh heh, I said, "gigantic pants") I might reconsider.

 Outfit Particulars:
Vintage beach pajamas-Fairytail Costumes
Belt-Hand-Me-Ups
Bangle-Goodwill
Crystal earrings-New Life Thrift
Lobster brooch-Hand-Me-Ups
Vintage handbag-Goodwill
Shoes-Dillards
Fragrance-Lentheric Miracle

 Now that we have the big pants out of the way, I have some small pants to show (ouch!).

"Hey skinny jeans. Yeah, you. Up yours."

Why the hell do people like these things?! I keep trying to find a way of wearing them that doesn't make me feel like a complete idiot, and thus far haven't succeeded. Even thin people have their legs made to look like sausages squeezed into too small a casing-mine look like a joint of beef! Or ham. Gammon gams. I don't care if this trend lives or dies, but for me? That's it. No trousers are worth numb legs and looking this foolish. If you can wear them and enjoy them-by all means do so, but me? I'm done. 

I do think the, "Makeup of the un-dead" has potential though (The men in the household disagree, but what the fuck do they know about makeup?!). I bought a Maybellene ultra-saturated dark purple lippy that's almost black. Too much alone, it looks good with a lighter lavender over it. You can't see it well under the specs, but I'm also wearing a grey/dark blue eye shadow.

"Give us a kiss...hey! Why are you running away?!"

Outfit Particulars:

Vintage 80's top-Goodwill

Skinny jeans-K Mart

Clogs-about 10 years ago, Dillards

Vintage dangle earrings-New Life Thrift

Shoulder bag-Goodwill

Fragrance-Vintage formulation Courreges in Blue

Cazal frames-Mum's

Ideally, pants would fall somewhere in the middle of the extremes. With that in mind, I tried out a pair of, "Mom jeans" aka-High Waisted jeans.

 Hmmm. These could work. They're still a  bit on the slim side, but for six dollars at K Mart, I really can't complain. I wore my blouse untucked, but the jeans have enough room that I could tuck in my shirt-tails if I so desired, something that would be nearly impossible (for me anyway) in skinny jeans.

I also tried out the red eyeshadow trend so you don't have to. You're welcome. truth be told, I don't hate it with my skin tone and eyes, but I softened the look by mixing it with a bit of gold and purple. 

Outfit Particulars:

High waisted jeans-K Mart

Blouse-Missoni for Target

1980's Susan Bristol waistcoat-New Life Thrift

Vintage Tano of Madrid tapestry purse-Salvation Army

Ruff Hewn clogs-Dillards

Earrings-Can't remember

Charm bracelet-built over the years

1970's clamper bracelet-gift from my sister when we were young

Fragrance-None! The asthma monster has returned with the autumn mould season. Pray for a killing frost, please.

So how do you prefer your pants? Big, little, or somewhere in-between. All of the above? Do tell.