For many people, pants are just something to wear. But for some fashion enthusiasts, pants are a way to flex their taste and show they are in the know. To members of this crowd, like Maddie Bailis, wearing certain pants is akin to – and may even edge out – carrying it-bags.
“It’s a signifier of understanding a fashion moment, like a handbag,” said Bailis, 33, the director of merchandising for the clothing brand Kule in New York. “Many people have designer bags these days. You can get them in the airport, on The Real Real, you can buy them fake on Canal Street.
They don’t have the same weight they once carried.” Also, prices for luxury handbags have risen so sharply in recent years that even some of the wealthiest consumers are hesitant to buy them, said Luca Solca, a senior analyst in luxury goods at the research firm Bernstein. Bailis owns two pairs of pants that she said were easily recognised by women who closely follow fashion.
They are the Basic pants from Pleats Please, starting at US$375 (approximately RM1,655), the line of accordionlike clothing founded by Japanese designer Issey Miyake; and the Tie pants, priced US$155 (RM684), by Brooke Callahan, a designer in Los Angeles who previously worked in public relations for the French brand APC. Read more: Essential bag types for different occasions: Carryalls, totes, and backpacks The loose-fitting Tie pants are low-slung and have a tie waist at one hip. They are sold in bright colours – shamrock green, .
