Apparently, harem jeans are fashionable, moving into fall. Current/Elliot, makers of last year’s coveted ‘boyfriend jeans’ have collaborated with Marni, whose statement necklaces and unusual silhouettes have informed many trends over the past few years. Their denim lovechild can be found here, in Nylon mag
Now, I realize that there’s a pretty big difference between style and fashion. Fashion is a business, a multi-billion dollar industry, based upon trends and markets, shifting focus every season. Style is something altogether different, and if you’re doubtful, just check out StreetPeeper or the Sartorialist to see stylish people around the world doing their own stylish thing, which will end up on runways next year. Style is more unique and individual- writing the guidelines, if you will, as opposed to obeying them. Fashion trends notwithstanding, he harem jeans seemed interesting, and I was intrigued. I have a pretty big soft spot for unusual silhouettes. I think it all started with a teenaged trip to Europe and my very first French Vogue mag, which had a series of jackets by Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto. The complexity of the shapes, and the deconstructed nature of the clothing was fascinating. Quite a departure from the bland Polo-infested trends of high school! These pieces said so much and seemed to request that you think about them. Really lovely stuff. You just don’t see this kind of thing every day.
How to recreate this look without the Parisian aristocrat’s budget? I enlisted the help of my perennially crafty mother, who welcomed the challenge. A few yards of grey and pink pinstripe fabric later, she had reproduced this fabulous Issey Miyake Vogue pattern. Eeeeeee! High school joy, shoulder pads and all.
Today I wear far fewer shoulder pads, but still love these avant garde designers just as much. Pending the arrival of those winning 6/49 numbers, I’ll be well clothed, but until then, other options must suffice.
H&M, mass market translators of the runway, have their own version of the aforementioned harem jeans. Intrigued, I tried them on. Horrific. Horrifying. Horrendous. Hands shaking, staring at my misshapen reflection in the changingroom, I texted my most fashionable girlfriend to ask her, ‘seriously, what is up with harem jeans?’ I was wide at all the wrong parts, saggy at the very worst places, and, I realized, suddenly quiet bum-less. Unless one is attempting to conceal one’s ‘Depends undergarments’, which I hope not to do before age 99, these jeans just seemed all kinds of wrong. Fashion be damned, and sorry, Marni, i usually love you.
belle commune 