Hotpants

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the item of clothing. For other uses, see Hot Pants.
Brocade hotpants modelled by Larysa Poznyak for Bebe, 2008
gay pride
event, 2010

Hotpants or hot pants are extremely short

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.

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

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,

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

Philadelphia Phillies Hot Pants Patrol uniform, 1975
A Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader wearing uniform hotpants, 2011

Hotpants can also be part of a uniform worn by cheerleaders (as made popular by the

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

Austrian Army
also used short shorts for PT wear.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780521449717
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781610699020
    .
  3. ISBN 9781847887382
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780300087383
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 9781603763332
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 9780835206273
    .
  7. ^ a b c Smaltz, Audrey (25 March 1971). "HotPants, Or 'Knockout-Shorts', Worn By Sexy, Proud Women!". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company: 42–43.
  8. ^ Sieczkowski, Cavan (19 May 2014). "Jennifer Lopez Wears Leather Hotpants Like No Other". Huffington Post India. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  9. ^ a b Singh, Anita (16 June 2009). "Rio Ferdinand emulates Ronaldo in hotpants". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  10. ^
    ISBN 9780313339097
    .
  11. ISBN 9780810864191
    . Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  12. ISBN 9781610693103
    .
  13. ^ Hamer, Louise; Blum, Stella (1 January 1981). Clark, Rowena (ed.). Fabulous Fashion 1907–67: Exhibition from the Costume Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. International Cultural Corporation of Australia. p. 94.
  14. ISBN 9781784424084
    .
  15. ISBN 9781560065579
    . By 1972, there were even a few adventurous men wearing hot pants, including singers David Bowie, Sammy Davis Jr., and Liberace, who wore a red-white-and-blue pair
  16. ISBN 082238695X
    .
  17. ISBN 9780313339097
    .
  18. ISBN 978-0-415-52802-3
    . Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  19. ^ Ricketson, Matthew (27 July 2002). "Kylie's seat of power". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  20. ^ "Kylie Minogue – Kylie Minogue Donates Famous Hot Pants To Australian Museum". Contactmusic.com. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  21. ^
    ISBN 9780814794074
    .
  22. ^ Wald, Matthew L. (7 February 2007). "M. Lamar Muse, 86, Dies; Led Southwest Airlines". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  23. ISBN 9780520274778
    .
  24. ^ a b "City of Brotherly Love gets Hot Pants Patrol". The Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. 2 April 1971.
  25. ^ "The Phillies "Hot Pants Patrol" Was Indeed A Thing, Once Upon A Time". PHILEBRITY. Retrieved 21 April 2017.

External links

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