I am a child of the 80s and it was a great time. I road the plastic tread off of my Big Wheel, I dressed up as She-Ra for Halloween and wanted to be Punky Brewster.
I fully embraced the fashion of the times too. I rocked crimped locks, side tied t-shirts and my awesome jellies. I had two, count them, two pairs of MC Hammer pants. Yes, this is what they were called back then; Hammer pants. Mine were both brightly colored and had a tie-dyed pattern. One pair was purple and the other was neon pink with – wait for it – suspenders. Aww yeah. I was fly in my Hammer pants.
They were perfect back then and I believe that’s where they need to stay. Just like leggings and stirrup pants, Hammer pants or parachute pants have no business in the 2000s. None what so ever.
So I am positively sick over the resurgence of said Hammer pants, or “Harem” pants as they are being called these days. Seriously WTF? They were great back in the day. But they’ve had their hey-day, they’ve had their moment in the sun. It’s over and done, and no one needs to relive these horrible fashion moments.
While I think I rocked my Hammer pants back in the day, I am fully aware how ridiculous the pants actually looked and I have no desire to walk around with a hanging, baggy crotch again.
I think what’s most sad about this “retro” look is that it’s almost like the death knell of fashion. That the designers of the world have no more new ideas, they have to constantly go back to the past, and the near past at that, to steal ideas that have already come to pass.
I think inspiration comes from many places and to mine the classics and learn from them is important, but the Hammer pant is not classic. It is gaudy and you can slap a new name on them, have a couple of celebrities prance around in them, but at the end of the day, they’re still Hammer pants and no one wants to touch that.