Dear Agony Uncle,
What’s up with short shorts with the pocket lining hanging out?
Daisy Duked, Melbourne
Dear Daisy Duked,
It’s a trend that I had ignored in the hope that it would eventually go away, much like a vexatious sibling or a fungal infection. I first saw it appear on dance floors in the wee hours of the morning; dishevelled females with hair and jaws askew, slowing hunchbacking in zig-zag formation past the DJ. Initially I thought it was a wardrobe malfunction, the flaps of their pockets hanging inches below the ragged hems of their denim cut-offs, but then it became apparent it was intentional when one lonely soul shuffled side to side with her thumbs hooked in her eyelets, Billy Ray Cyrus-style.
Daisy Dukes, or as I prefer to call them, Alexa Chungs, have been popularised by celebrity culture, on the runway and in punk rock. Even Arrested Development‘s Tobias Fünke, wore cut-offs as a condition of his never-nude affliction—a fear of ever being naked—but at least he had the common decency to conceal the pockets.
I’ve been guilty of being a denim cut-off devotee on and off since I was literally and figuratively in short pants, but never were my pockets visible. I’ve had several pairs over the years: childhood acid wash jeans fashioned into shorts circa ’87; dark blue faded denim jeans altered for my 21st birthday, which I spent on rollerskates; and as recently as last year, a pair of thrift store-purchased Nineties stonewash 501s cut to mid-thigh-length perfection. As we all know, fashion is cyclical but as I have grown longer in the tooth, my shorts have followed suit.
As long denim exists, so will cut-offs (plus or minus a couple of years). Recently embroidery and patterned pocket lining has crept in, highlighting this ghastly trend that simply must desist. Ladies, cease this madness and tuck those packets up where they belong. Be sure to dress appropriately for your shape, which means nothing riding up your backside, nothing hanging out the front and most certainly nothing hanging out over the top. What would Alexa do?
Tweets that mention Instant Skank Appeal; Just Add Denim Cut-Offs | I Do Believe I Came with a Hat -- Topsy.com
1 year ago
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Agony Uncle and Jack, Adrian Fernand. Adrian Fernand said: My two cents' worth on the ghastly pockets-hanging-out-at-the-front-of-your-cut-offs trend. http://ht.ly/3NAwh [...]