Hotpants

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Brocade hotpants modelled by Larysa Poznyak for Bebe, 2008 Bebe Hot Pants 01 2008 (cropped).jpg
Brocade hotpants modelled by Larysa Poznyak for Bebe, 2008
Man wearing pink hotpants for a gay pride event, 2010 Man wearing pink hot-pants at Nottingham Pride MMB 59 (cropped).jpg
Man wearing pink hotpants for a gay pride event, 2010

Hotpants or hot pants are extremely short shorts. The term was first used by Women's Wear Daily in 1970 to describe shorts made in luxury fabrics such as velvet and satin for fashionable wear, rather than their more practical equivalents that had been worn for sports or leisure since the 1930s. Hotpants are worn above the knees around the thigh area. The term has since become a generic term for any pair of extremely short shorts. While hotpants were briefly a very popular element of mainstream fashion in the early 1970s, by the mid-1970s they had become associated with the sex industry, which contributed to their fall from fashion. However, hotpants continued to be popular as clubwear well into the 2010s and are often worn within the entertainment industry, particularly as part of cheerleader costumes or for dancers (especially backup dancers). Performers such as Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue have famously worn hotpants as part of their public performances and presentation.

Contents

Origins and terminology

While the term "hotpants" is used generically to describe extremely short shorts, [1] similar garments had been worn since the 1930s. [1] These garments, however, were designed mainly for sports, beachwear and leisure wear, while hotpants were innovative in that they were made from non-activewear fabrics such as velvet, silk, crochet, fur and leather, and styled explicitly to be worn on the street, for parties, or even as bridal wear. [2] [3] [4] Dorothy Tricario, a fashion curator at the Brooklyn Museum told The New York Times in 1971 that hotpants were part of a greater nostalgic revival of 1930s and 1940s fashion, specifically the short posing shorts worn by Hollywood stars like Ruby Keeler, Deanna Durbin, and Betty Grable. [5] However, Tricario also observed that shorts had never before had such widespread acceptance as street or business wear as they did in early 1971. [5]

According to the fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, the term "hot pants" was coined by Women's Wear Daily (WWD) in 1970 to describe fashions innovated by the French ready-to-wear company Dorothée Bis. [6] The WWD claim to have originated the term is also backed up by 1971 articles in The New York Times and the African-American magazine Jet . [5] [7] Jet's fashion editor, Audrey Smaltz, suggested that because hotpants were best suited to Black women, they should be called "Knockout Shorts" as that name was more "relevant to Blacks", expressing the fashionable African-American woman's pride in her "knockout body" as well as paying tribute to Black identity and recent struggles. [7] Other alternative names included "les shorts", "short cuts", "cool pants", and "shortootsies", with "booty shorts" as an early 21st-century term. [2] Today, the term hotpants can be used for casual as well as fashion-wear short-shorts made in any fabric. [8] [9]

While hotpants were principally marketed to women, men were also targeted, and the term can describe very short men's shorts. [1] [2] [9] [10]

Reception

At the end of the 1960s, the fashion industry had tried unsuccessfully to promote the mid-calf-length or midi skirt as a fashionable replacement for the miniskirt. [2] [7] In contrast to the lukewarm response to the midi, shoppers enthusiastically embraced the idea of short shorts, which were made available at all price levels from haute couture to inexpensive ready-to-wear. [2] Lambert credits Mariuccia Mandelli of the Italian fashion label Krizia with designing the first "hot pants" in 1970. [6] Hotpants are also increasingly credited to Mary Quant, who offered brief shorts in the late 1960s, [2] [11] [12] [13] although these were intended as modesty knickers to wear with matching minidresses rather than standalone fashion garments. [14] Many designers from across the Western world produced their own versions of hotpants at all price levels, including Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Halston, and Betsey Johnson. [2] Mass-produced versions were also sold through the Sears mail-order catalogue. [2]

Hotpants were available for women, men and children, although they were principally worn by women. [10] Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis bought a pair for wear while yachting, [10] while other high-profile wearers included Elizabeth Taylor, Raquel Welch, and Jane Fonda. [2] Hotpants were also worn by particularly adventurous men such as David Bowie, Sammy Davis Jr. and Liberace. [15] Hotpants for men were slightly longer than the women's versions, although they were still shorter than usual. [1]

The James Brown song "Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants)", released in August 1971, was, according to his trombonist Fred Wesley, inspired by the sight of women of all colours wearing hotpants in a wide range of materials in the Black and White Club, Brussels. [16]

The historian Valerie Steele noted that hotpants, both as a name, and as a garment, quickly became associated with sexuality and prostitution due to their popularity with male spectators. [10] [4] In January 1971, a Manhattan-based male psychiatrist suggested that the popularity of hotpants lay in how they expressed a "female's new freedom", borrowing his phrasing from the women's liberation movement, [10] but then went on to suggest that the wearer of hotpants wanted to relate to other people by drawing attention through "sexually provocative" dressing as a "prelude to a genuine relationship". [5] By the mid-1970s, extremely short shorts had become shorthand for prostitution, particularly underage prostitution, as exemplified by the 1976 film Taxi Driver , in which Jodie Foster's child-prostitute character was dressed in a pair of hotpants. [10] Such associations contributed to hotpants becoming unattractive as a part of a woman's everyday wardrobe, although they remained popular wear in entertainment, party-wear and some evening contexts. [10] The controversial associations with hotpants were still an issue in 1999, when Britney Spears posed for a photoshoot in Rolling Stone wearing a pink pair. [10] The photographs, taken by David LaChapelle, presented Spears in provocative poses, surrounded by dolls and tricycles, with the word "Baby" rhinestoned across the seat of her hotpants, and led to widespread media debate and public commentary about whether it was appropriate for role models for young girls to present themselves in such a "highly sexualised" manner. [17]

In 2000, Kylie Minogue notably wore a pair of gold lamé hotpants in her music video for "Spinning Around", which led to widespread media focus on the garment and the singer's body within. [18] [19] The hotpants were eventually donated by Minogue to the Performing Arts Collection museum at the Arts Centre, Melbourne, where they are described as "one of the most identifiable items of contemporary popular culture." [20]

Hotpants, also called booty shorts continue being popular well into the 2010s, and are often seen in particular contexts such as Miami's South Beach and Venice Beach, Los Angeles, whose beach-to-bar environments have unique dress codes. [2]

In uniforms

Member of the Hot Pants Patrol.jpg
Philadelphia Phillies Hot Pants Patrol uniform, 1975
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders - Series 02 - 009.jpg
A Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader wearing uniform hotpants, 2011

Hotpants can also be part of a uniform worn by cheerleaders (as made popular by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders) and performers, or required wear in certain service industries (such as the Hooters restaurant chain). [10] Southwest Airlines became notorious for the hotpants uniform they supplied for their stewardesses (nicknamed "Love Birds") in 1971, as featured in an ad campaign with the slogan "Someone Else Up There Who Loves You." [21] The tangerine-coloured uniforms (designed by Juanice Gunn Muse, the wife of M. Lamar Muse, the Southwest Airlines president) were worn by girls who were chosen for their good looks and friendliness. [22] Lamar Muse boasted that having beautiful attendants in hotpants ensured that male passengers would fight to sit on the aisle rather than by the window. [21] However, feminist organisations such as Stewardesses for Women's Rights protested and lobbied against the uniform. [23] Also in 1971, the Hot Pants Patrol was introduced as an elite corps of female ushers for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, with the intention of attracting greater audiences for the games. [24] While the majority of "Fillies" wore white microskirts as part of their uniform, the 36 members of the Hot Pants Patrol wore a red hotpants jumpsuit with white vinyl go-go boots. [24] After pressure from feminist organisations, the Phillies retired the Hot Pants Patrol in 1982. [25]

Hotpants or booty shorts remain a popular costume for cheerleaders and dancers, particularly hip hop performers, and are frequently worn by backup dancers. [2] [10] The uniform of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders consists of hotpants and midriff tops. [10] In the early 21st century hotpants continue to be part of certain service industry uniforms, particularly where the wearers are likely to serve a predominantly male clientele. One example of this is Hooters, where the servers (or "Hooters Girls") wear orange Dolphin shorts along with a tight tank top, pantyhose and a bra. [10]

Extremely short shorts have also seen use within military use. Unofficially, members of the Rhodesian and South African armed forces wore extremely short shorts due to fighting in the hot climates there. The Austrian Army also used short shorts for PT wear.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leotard</span> One-piece garment that covers the torso

A leotard is a unisex skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso from the crotch to the shoulder. The garment was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1838–1870). There are sleeveless, short-sleeved, and long-sleeved leotards. A variation is the unitard, which also covers the legs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tights</span> Heavy, opaque stockings woven in one with panties

Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concept of the American term pantyhose with sheer legs and opaque panty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantyhose</span> Sheer waist-high nylon legwear usually worn by women

Pantyhose, sometimes also called sheer tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertisement of new design panties as a convenient alternative to stockings and/or control panties which, in turn, replaced girdles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shorts</span> Garment for the lower body ending above the knee

Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they are a shortened version of trousers, which cover the entire leg, but not the foot. Shorts are typically worn in warm weather or in an environment where comfort and airflow are more important than the protection of the legs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miniskirt</span> Short skirt that usually extends to mid-thigh

A miniskirt is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than 10 cm (4 in) below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt dress. A micro-miniskirt or microskirt is a miniskirt with its hemline at the upper thigh, at or just below crotch or underwear level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skirt</span> Clothing worn from the waist or hips

A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skort</span> Shorts made to look like a skirt

A skort is a pair of shorts with an overlapping fabric panel made to resemble a skirt covering the front and back, or a skirt with a pair of integral shorts hidden underneath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overalls</span> Protective clothing

Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leggings</span> Several types of leg coverings

Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights. Usage from the 18th century refers to men's wear usually made of cloth or leather that is wrapped around the leg down to the ankle. In the 19th century, leggings usually referred to infants' leg clothing that were matched with a jacket, as well as leg-wrappings made of leather or wool and worn by soldiers and trappers. Leggings prominently returned to women's fashion in the 1960s, drawing from the form-fitting clothing of dancers. With the widespread adoption of the synthetic fibre Lycra and the rise in popularity of aerobics, leggings came to further prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually made their way into streetwear. Leggings are a part of the late 2010s into the 2020s athleisure fashion trend of wearing activewear outside sporting activities and in casual settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culottes</span> Womans split skirt; earlier, breeches or knickers

Culottes are an item of clothing worn on the lower half of the body. The term can refer to either split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's underpants; this is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, languages and cultures, then being used to describe different garments, often creating confusion among historians and readers. The French word culotte is panties, pants, knickers, trousers, shorts, or (historically) breeches; derived from the French word culot, meaning the lower half of a thing, the lower garment in this case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloomers</span> Type of womens garment

Bloomers, also called the bloomer, the Turkish dress, the American dress, or simply reform dress, are divided women's garments for the lower body. They were developed in the 19th century as a healthful and comfortable alternative to the heavy, constricting dresses worn by American women. They take their name from their best-known advocate, the women's rights activist Amelia Bloomer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990s in fashion</span> Costume and fashion of the 1990s

Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermuda shorts</span> Knee-length walking shorts for men or women

Bermuda shorts, also known as walk shorts or dress shorts, are a particular type of short trousers, worn as semi-casual attire by both men and women. The hem, which can be cuffed or un-cuffed, is around 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the knee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1945–1960 in Western fashion</span> Costume and fashion in the post-war years 1945-1960

Fashion in the years following World War II is characterized by the resurgence of haute couture after the austerity of the war years. Square shoulders and short skirts were replaced by the soft femininity of Christian Dior's "New Look" silhouette, with its sweeping longer skirts, fitted waist, and rounded shoulders, which in turn gave way to an unfitted, structural look in the later 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clothing fetish</span> Sexual fetish relating to particular type of clothing

Clothing fetishism or garment fetishism is a sexual fetish that revolves around a fixation upon a particular article or type of clothing, a particular fashion or uniform, or a person dressed in such a style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolphin shorts</span> Athletic shorts for men or women

Dolphin shorts or Dolfins are a specific style of unisex shorts worn for athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trousers</span> Clothing for the legs and lower body

Trousers, slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately. In the United Kingdom, the word pants generally means underwear and not trousers. Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers" in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underwear</span> Clothes worn under other clothes

Underwear, underclothing, or undergarments are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer clothing from being soiled or damaged by bodily excretions, to lessen the friction of outerwear against the skin, to shape the body, and to provide concealment or support for parts of it. In cold weather, long underwear is sometimes worn to provide additional warmth. Special types of undergarments have religious significance. Some items of clothing are designed as undergarments, while others, such as T-shirts and certain types of shorts, are appropriate both as underwear and outerwear. If made of suitable material or textile, some underwear can serve as nightwear or swimwear, and some undergarments are intended for sexual attraction or visual appeal.

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Low-rise is a style of clothing designed to sit low on, or below, the hips. The style can also be called lowcut, hipster, or hip-hugger. and can apply to garments worn by males or females. The term can be applied to all garments that cover the wearer's crotch area, including trousers, jeans, shorts, skirts, panties, briefs, bikinis, pantyhose, and tights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basketball uniform</span> Type of uniform worn by basketball players

A basketball uniform is a type of uniform worn by basketball players. Basketball uniforms consist of a jersey that features the number and typically the last name of the player on the back, as well as shorts and athletic shoes. Within teams, players wear uniforms representing the team colors; the home team usually wears a lighter-colored uniform, while the visiting team wears a darker-colored uniform.

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