Culottes in spring-summer collections
IN A CONSTANT WONDERZINE HEAD talks about trends from the podium that can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. In this issue we understand how cropped culottes appeared in the spring-summer collections of both the conservative houses of Hermès and Mulberry, and progressive ones like Kenzo and Proenza Schouler.
How it all began
Culottes - cropped trousers up to the ankle length - originally a man's thing, worn only by the rich aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. We owe the ridiculous name of these trousers to the French language and, in fact, to the French, who put them on first. As a rule, they were sewn of silk, worn with high golf and fastened under the knee to fasteners. The historical role they played twice. The first time during the French Revolution was 1789-1799. The socialist insurgents from the underprivileged sections of society did not fundamentally wear culottes, which in their own way symbolized aristocracy and power, revolutionaries were called so-san-culottes (that is, translating literally, "without cigarette").
For the second time, the culottes became a symbol of the revolution already in women's fashion. At the beginning of the 20th century, women needed practical and comfortable clothing for an active life. Coco Chanel was the first to encourage women to wear pants, and Italian Elsa Schiaparelli (the first to embody the idea of ready-to-wear in fashion) showed comfortable clothes for sports. In the Pour le Sport collection at the end of the 20s, Schiaparelli shows swimsuits and skiing outfits. In 1931, she adds one more thing to the collection: she cuts the skirt in half and molds out of her trousers for a Wimbledon match. At the match in culottes (skirt-pants) appears Spanish tennis player and feminist Lily de Alvarez. Progressive Englishwomen pick up the idea after the match and order similar tweed pants for riding and cycling. The British press would call this outrageous clothing and will condemn it for a long time, while feminists who wanted “costume” equality with men demanded that the skirt be replaced everywhere with a skirt-pants.
Almost simultaneously with Elsa Schiaparelli, the American couturier Charles James is experimenting with a culot. At the end of the 60s, the bravest girls wear the culottes, again on the wave of feminism, for example, Betty Katra, who combines the culottes with the furs of Pierre Cardin and shiny shoes (what even French Vogue writes about). For some time the fashion that fell out of sight, the culottes returned to the podium in the 90s thanks to the practical German Gilles Zander. A simple white top with a slit in the front and gray wide silk culottes become canonical in her hands.
How to wear culottes now
Shortened pants below the knee returned to the podium a year ago - they appeared in the collections of brands that are always a year ahead of world trends: Céline and Acne. Hermès conservatives show leather culottes, add a beautiful wide belt to them and combine trousers with a trench coat and shirt. In the Kenzo collection there are many culottes with prints, embroidered, monophonic with cuts. Americans show culottes with a low waist: 3.1 Phillip Lim - transparent, Alexander Wang - from costume gray fabric. Proenza Schouler offer culottes of milky-white color and also of colored suede and continue to experiment with trousers as early as next autumn-winter season, where there are suede, leather and wool culottes. Belgian Dries Van Noten also can’t do without culottes in both seasons: this summer and next autumn. For the hot season, he has silk, which the designer combines with a trench coat, then with a kimono, for the winter - woolen with long zippers along his trousers. In the future season they will be with Stella McCartney, and THE ROW - these brands offer to wear them with men's shoes. Culottes can be found even in the Russian brand A.W.A.K.E. The popularity of culottes is indicated by the fact that the respectable Oscar de la Renta brand is late showing skirts in the 2015 cruise collection.
Culottes look like a midi-length skirt, and you should treat them more like a skirt than trousers. Culottes look simple and relaxed, and shoes to them also fit relaxed with a minimum of details: sneakers, birkenshtoki, sharp-nosed ballet flats. The shortened length of the pants can always be compensated with a heel or shoes on the platform. The culottes of pastel colors (mauve, dusty pink, mint, pale yellow, pistachio) or white can greatly help out in summer, especially if sewn from silk. In addition, the culottes will stay with us until autumn, and then they can be worn with any shoes. As for the upper part of the dress, in the summer these baggy trousers are well combined with a crop top or shirt, and when cold, with a baggy sweater with a throat. Even culottes will look good in a pair with a light trench made of soft materials - there are such, for example, in the Monki collection.
BEWARE!
Popularity is gaining things with a low waist (yes, unfortunately, high waist is out of fashion and it's time to go to press the press and run in the parks). A guide on how to wear low-waist culottes can be found at the Kenzo show. However, women's culottes were created for the sport, so now everything is back to square one: first of all, they fit the sporting style and promise comfort. These two concepts and can be guided.
Photo: Getty Images / Fotobank (2), Sipa Press / Fotodom (3)