When I see the word “hero,” I think of Bette Midler singing
in the movie “Beaches.” More specifically, I remember a hairless child singing
the song “The Wind Beneath My Wings” (because there’s the line “did you ever
know that you’re my hero?”) as a
Karaoke selection at the Roller Kingdom indoor roller skating rink while I was
at someone’s birthday party in the 80’s. I also think of the magnificent
Strauss tone poem Ein Heldenleben with loud, hard, gratifying horn parts, a
delicious sushi restaurant in NYC, and Superman. What I do not think of, ever,
are clown pants – hideously printed, wacky, brightly colored, tacky, expensive,
louder than the special effects in an action film at the movie theatre
pantalones.
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| Hey guess what, I don't want your personality. |
Not too
long ago Net-A-Porter sent out their weekly style mag discussing a trend called “Hero Pants.” Of course, I thought I missed the memo when I pondered, “What the
hell are hero pants?!” The handy dandy Internet allowed me to discover that no
one else knew what the hell Net-A-Porter was talking about either. Hero Pants
or Victim Pants, really ugly printed pants seem to be a big hit this fall. I
had almost forgotten about the whole shebang until I was reminded by the
ocularly offensive ad Anthropologie sent to my Inbox on 9/24/12. They called
them “Personality Pants/ Pants that go Pow.” I think the best part about the
girl’s outfits in this email is that she looks like she did her hair with an
eggbeater (I hope you remember what one of those is - see picture below if you don't). And I can actually say
that is not an exaggeration. YOW. The webpage that email loads hurts to look
at.
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| Egg beater |
Let’s get
back to this whole “hero pants” concept. As far as I can tell, the only
requirement of “hero pants” is that they be ugly, based on the selection
at this Net-a-porter trend page. In case you don’t feel like clicking through to that, I’ve selected a few of
my favorites to show here. And I truly hope that you can envision the look on
my face as I view them. If you don’t know me and/or haven’t been shopping with
me, it’s something similar to the look on the face of the girl sitting in the
lawn chair reading the book about Hitler and friends, except the eyes are bugged out a
little bit more, brow raised and furrowed, and my mouth would lie somewhere
between breaking out into uncontrollable laughter and a clown frown.
I’m not
sure which is the winner, Tablecloth Crotch, Leprosy Legs, or Golden Girls’
Next Door Neighbors’ Bathroom Wallpaper Print Pants.
I
recall one of my first visits to Century 21 (the discount retailer, not the real estate agent) on Wall St. I was 20. I had a tendency to like
ugly things, sometimes. (Top secret information: I still like really ugly
things for myself sometimes and that is why I rarely go shopping alone) My
ultra-fashionable friend Alicia had taken me – I’m not sure if this is the
visit when I bought my first pair of Prada shoes or a different visit. Anyways…
I found these pants that I was certain I had to have. I’m pretty sure they were
Etro. They were denim and they were covered with sequined apple trees. I can
see you wrinkling your nose at me. It’s okay, I can take it. Thank heavens for
Alicia, then Parsons student, now designer for Juicy Couture. She took one look
at the pants I had in my hand and gave me a look that indicated that if I even
contemplated picking them up off the rack we would no longer be allowed to
continue our acquaintance. These pants could EASILY have fallen into the “hero
pants” category. The real hero in this situation is Alicia. I don’t know what I
would do without you.
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