Hot-pants

Their first appearance dates back to 1970. They belong to the generation of trash-fashion and to the gipsy, hippy, and later punk style, the label of the protest movement born in England and widespread in Italy. The angry air existent in the rhythms of the Rolling Stones and the desire for freedom resulted in unisex, low-waisted bell-bottom pants, which were consecrated by Raffaella Carrà on Italian television of the time. Dressing like a Blob with a miniskirt alongside a maxi and, as a tribute to legs, hot-pants that were irreverent and provocative worn with with tops, tanks, and micro-sweaters. Advertising profited and the bottom with the most fans in Italy was covered by very tight blue denim shorts. ‘Who loves me, follows me,’ was the slogan for a brand of jeans in a campaign directed by Oliviero Toscani. A seductive item not only in Summer, but which became increasingly shorter from season to season. From runways to the high street, girls (and not just girls) went in search of this ironic hot-pants. They sent out an image of an irresistible expression of youth, appearing beneath long coats and worn with serious blazers that swallowed up the hem. Unrevived during the 1980s, they reappeared just before the Millennium. This time they were interpreted more aggressively. Most designers featured them in their Collections. On occasion hotpants represented their entire Collection. The reinvented hot-pants proposed a new hot-fashion, which saw Lolitas on shockingly high platform shoes. These girls were the pin-ups of the late 1990s a la Vargas, a great illustrator who secretly dreamed up femininity in the 1950s. These were hot-pants that resembled underpants: soft or tight, trimmed or fringed, they were cut audaciously, becoming a spicy proposal for the evening, in glossy and elasticized satin, so tiny to drive one to distraction. They were ‘the missing shorts’ and a very hot trend. Reckless hot-pants created in transparent plastic, or spotted with sequins, or in black leather with candid or optical-effect T-“shirts. These hot-pants paid tribute to the 1970s and disco music. Aggressive hot-pants worn with stockings invoked sin for femininity stressed by bare legs, a type of high-voltage seduction, which is an explicit declaration of the right to eroticism.