For anyone at university circa 2010, you’ll remember one trend: American Apparel disco pants and while we thought this one was as dead as Scrooge’s best pal Marley, Kylie Jenner seems to breathing new life into the world’s shiniest pants. Fashion really is absolutely cyclical.
The Kylie Cosmetics founder was photographed in New York while supporting her boyfriend Timothée Chalamet on Saturday Night Live wearing a pair of black disco-style pants with a fitted asymmetric off-the-shoulder black top. Basically, 2023’s version of trousers and a nice top. Of course, she pulls it off, even with sandals and socks.
Are we ready for this resurgence again? We’re not sure. It’s certainly bringing back buried fashion memories. You see, disco pants weren’t just for discos, they were for any occasion. Nights out, lectures, the gym, the nurse’s appointment to pick up your contraceptive pill. No, they weren’t washed much. Like Kylie’s version, they had to be skin tight, this, after all, was a time long before baggy became cool, before sauntering around with side-popper trackies and boyfriend jeans was a thing.
We’ll give it to Kylie, she makes disco pants look almost minimalist, chic even. Maybe disco pants are ready for a comeback, in a less statement-making, low-key kind of way. We’ll leave 2010’s accompanying whiplash-style hair and visible neon thongs to 2010 though.