The cycling shorts have been around in the fashion world for several decades, and now they’re back in the mainstream. Why it is so perfect – and yet the trend should soon be over. A few months ago I stood in despair in front of my closet. I have three compartments for pants. Left: gray and black suit pants, loose culottes made of light satin. Middle: Jeans in blue, black, light beige, oversized bell-bottoms. Right: a measly little ball of fabric , consisting of a skirt and an old, cut-off pair of jeans , which paradoxically is too big but also too short for me. That’s all. There is nothing in the pile on the left, where beautiful summer bottoms should be.
Because there is simply nothing that women can wear well as pants in summer. The days of short, tight high-waisted hot pants are long gone (luckily), skirts are by and large very sweet, but not always suitable for everyday use. What is left there? I asked myself at the beginning of summer. I found the answer in the cut leggings of my past.
The big breakthrough for cycling shorts
Because it is like 2015 to squeeze into tight, far too uncomfortable pants , the cycling shorts trend has come at exactly the right time. My first cycling shorts were the product of a pair of scissors , leggings with holes in them, and the will to simply enjoy my life in an oversize shirt and sneakers. The professional cycling shorts were quickly added (by professional, I mean Urban Outfitters) and the thing was scratched. This is my life now: cycling shorts with T-shirts, cycling shorts with crop tops, cycling shorts made of leo and cycling shorts in plain black.
The nice thing about cycling shorts is that they are everything
With a huge shirt and sneakers they are casual and chilled, with a wrap blouse and elegant sandals and a small bag they are pure money. They’re cozy, a little sexy , but not too revealing. I feel a bit empowered because I can sit down with cycling shorts as I want, without anything pinching, pushing, pulling or slipping.
Cycling shorts trend
In fact, there are fashion editors who are pushing the triumph of cycling shorts on Corona. For example Teresa Lam, editor for the fashion magazine ” Hypebae “. She claims that for those who found it strange to wear short leggings as pants, the corona lockdown was a good time to slowly approach the cycling shorts. First as chill pants (because they are really cozy). The chill pants just stayed on when you had to go to the supermarket, and slowly but surely your own discomfort in the cycling shorts was desensitized until the cycling shorts became an integral part of the wardrobe .
The cycling shorts have been around longer than you might think
In fact, the evolution of cycling shorts has been in the making for some time. As is so often the case in the fashion world, the modern revival of the nineties look is actually three years too late in the mainstream. As early as 2017, Dolce & Gabbana sent models with extravagant tops and black cycling shorts onto the catwalk, Dior also used the short leggings as a base for spring jackets and Saint Laurent presented them in a lace version under a huge balloon skirt. The lace shorts initially tried to establish themselves in fast fashion as a base for short mom jeans – but it did not become a triumph for lace cycling shorts.
In the summer of 2018 , Gigi Hadid and Kim Kardashian were the first trendsetters to rock the then controversial cycling shorts look, and in summer 2019 the trend finally really hit the ground: the medium-length stretch shorts landed in the shop windows of cheap fashion retailers from Hennes & Mauritz , Inditex and Co.
And yet – cycling shorts could not yet claim to be completely mainstream. Not in the way the high-waist hotpants could, not in the way skinny jeans once could, not in the way Caro shirts could. Now it’s summer 2020. And lo and behold, the cycling shorts are breaking through . While mainstream fashion sites like ” Hypebae ” or ” Glamor ” publish guides on how to properly stage the “new trend” and the cozy all-rounder slowly creeps into the wardrobes of influencer younger people – ” Vogue ” condemns the cycling shorts as out again. Sure, the trend in the high fashion sector has been around for at least two years. Something new can come from here.
The “Vogue” recommends instead … “real” pants . What shoud that? Just discovered, finally accepted to some extent by the large crowd and should the cycling shorts bless the time again?
I strongly oppose it. After a long research phase, I chose the cycling shorts as the perfect summer pants for women and I will not throw this knowledge overboard for me, nothing for you. Because as soon as the cycling shorts disappear from my wardrobe , it will become what it was before: an uninspired accumulation of material in which I feel uncomfortable.
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