Hooyah….
Because cargo pants, well, they're tricky.
Not too long ago middle-aged men gave cargo pants a bad name, remember cargo shorts?
To add pain to insult, cargos were associated with tacky tourist dressing or the good taste/bad taste aesthetic of the noughties.
Historically they vibe war. Their earliest iteration was drawn up in the headquarters of the British War Office back in the 1930s, then reinvented for U.S. Army's airborne forces. The World War II-era uniforms for paratroopers who needed secure storage when jumping out of planes, got oversized bellow pockets added onto the side of each leg. More pocket-space meant more stuff could be carried; the “cargo” was christened.
Personally, being a pacifist, I felt an old fashioned rifle in my hand and heard war cries in my head when in cargos or camouflage pants. But times change and when we breathe their new vibe and go with the flow, we change with them; cargo pants now feel like freedom for several reasons.
They are comfortably baggy.
Fashion molds the mindset of our time but is also a mirror and a reaction. The pandemic has successfully called for comfort and the return to utility and function. Formerly judged as ugly, the baggy, oversized has became cool and cargo pants are hot, the “uglier” the better.
They have pockets.
A pair of pants can spark a movement, and often has. Rappers identify themselves by their choice of trousers as do boss babes, punks or Barbie girls. And there we have the cool psychology of cargo pants; not only do they have a surplus of pocket which women were traditionally denied but built with combat in mind they vibe women power. They promise hands free agility, women who do stuff while looking amazing.
They tell stories of freedom.
The future might become female in cargo pants; Che Guevara wore cargos for a different kind of freedom fight.
So when power femmes like Rihanna rock them it feels right. That luxury consultant and former senior vice president of fashion at Bergdorf Goodman Robert Burke described them as a "cockroach" item, evokes giggles today especially when famous models stroll them over famous runways. Fashion’s sensitivity to social change make it often visionary; there’s even a foreshadowing shiver built into cargo pants. It becomes apparent when we look twice; ripped, stained and war like 2022 designer pants whisper of a coming dystopia.
Maybe wearing cargo pants can become more than a reaction to circumstance but a call for change; we are still fighting for women’s rights but now also for the future of our planet.
Cargos to the rescue.
Reebok x Cardi B cargo pants in pink and red 54% off