A new method of wearing pants that involves stacking two pairs on top of each other to give the appearance of a double waist and change the leg silhouette is starting to spread almost imperceptibly across TikTok and Instagram. Recently, we have started to see a loose-fitting sports pant worn over a pair of tight jeans – a natural and inventive evolution of the classic exposed boxer – in far North Europe, where the teenage dirtbag aesthetic has been tainting the mischievous well-beheaved scandi boys for a year or two already. Other challenges and “Get Ready With Me” videos are starting to circulate on TikTok, where two pants are layered to create a variety of looks. These range from double denim, which creates a silhouette that is narrow at the ankles and narrow at the waist, to those that evoke the “leggings under jeans” look that was once popularized by Gigi Hadid, to retro nu metal fans who pair cropped knee-highs and flared jeans.
Let’s face it; the appearance isn’t for everyone and is unquestionably under the radar. However, it’s noteworthy to note that what appears to be merely a styling quirk and a smart method to catch the eye of social or street style photographers in the case of fashion weeks, instead has interesting precedents on the catwalks, the regularity of whose appearances, in recent years, shows that possibly such a trend could actually emerge in the light of the mainstream.
It all started, basically, in 2017 when Maison Margiela‘s Fused Jean Trousers, a low-waisted pinstripe wool trouser from which high-waisted jeans protruded in a weird (but chic) trompe-l’oeil effect, became the most ridiculously popular street style item at fashion weeks in Paris and New York. They liked the look, so they persisted in their mysterious existence, emerging conceptually in the modular pants of Balenciaga‘s SS18 collection before exploding in the brand’s FW21 collection, which featured numerous looks that featured one pant worn over the other—the most notable of all being the jogger worn with denim. Glenn Martens, on the other hand, had begun to layer pants as early as 2016: Y/FW16 Project’s used the chaps gimmick to pair leather pants with synthetic fabric or even overlap two different denims; Martens remixed the trend for the brand’s SS23 by creating the illusionary print of a denim on the bottom hem of a T-shirt, creating a visual split. The double pant, on the other hand, appears in practically every collection at Diesel, from the FW22 runway debut through the three following collections.And if more well-known brands have recently experimented with the idea of a split waistband in pants, like JW Anderson’s SS23’s ripped denim from which black pants emerged and Miu Miu with its double waistband and detachable side skirts seen in Dior’s Egyptian show. However, the collection’s centerpiece with ERL also included an exposed boxer that multiplied waistlines. Aided by the resurgence of the exposed boxer, the sagging pant, and generally all those styling techniques that duplicate layers to show below the waist, the trend also appeared in Kolor’s SS22 collection, Maison Mihara Yasuhiro‘s most recent show, and the runways of Noki and Maison Mihara Yasuhiro in London.
It is important to note how the “movement” that two overlapping pants have been a part of has evolved from the typical intellectualism of a brand like Margiela toward gradually more artistically chaotic fields of reference, see Demna and Glenn Martens, before finding a home in streetwear. Unfortunately, there are few methods for tracking the spread of trends that are not strictly empirical. Could this peculiarity be seen as the initial sign of a more fun approach to fashion? The fashion is in fact virtually a DIY ode. Let’s see if it establishes itself or not.
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