Get Excited: Leopard-Print Harem Pants

{Princess Jasmine in a fitting ensemble for a late-night date to view a whole new world on a magic carpet ride. Photo credit: romanticmovies4u.wordpress.com}
I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there on the Interwebs: Princess Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin has long been a major style icon of mine, right up there with Audrey Hepburn and Kate Moss. I love her chunky, over-sized statement jewelry, flowing black hair, cat-eye winged liquid liner, off-the-shoulder top, independent spirit, and mellifluous voice.
Oh, and her harem pants.
While modern gentlemen are usually repulsed to the point of pain by this look, I have decided that, with the right proportions (I catch a lot of flak right about when I say this), I love the look. Love it. After a really fun but exhausting weekend, I got hit by a wicked night of insomnia, and found myself in a bleak mood on Monday morning. I decided that the only way to have some fun and emerge from this funk would be to bust out my $14.80 gray leopard-print harem pants with matching sash-belt, with understated separates and massive platforms, of course. I donned 'em, I went off to work, and I proceeded to be inundated with an equal number of compliments and ... expressions of deep concern for my mental state.
{Pants and platforms: Forever21, oh mighty slinger of couture rip-offs; Tank: H&M; Shrug: Target; Chain necklace: Kenneth Cole for Macy's.}
Call them harem pants, dropped-crotch stovepipes (designers seem to prefer this term), Persian army pants, or MC Hammers; these are the kind of item that women (correction, some women) can appreciate and men simply abhor. I totally get the "wtf" factor: what purpose does such a large crotch area serve? Is one wearing a gargantuan set of loaded Pampers, or does one have an abnormally large genital framework? Is one trying to birth a set of snow-leopards?... On and on. All I know is: they're amazingly comfortable, I love the "afterthought" skinny fit at the ankles that seems both ironic and chic, and to me, they are fierce.

{Google "Rihanna harem pants" and you will find that the sultry songstress adores them in every shape, material, and color. I love her balls-to-the-wall approach to fashion and the fact that she doesn't give a hoot what anyone thinks of how she dresses ... or um, sings. Photo credit: http://www.crushable.com/ }

{The star has worn variations on the silhouette from Givenchy, Yves St. Laurent, and more. Photo credit: http://www.ambertheblogger.blogspot.com/}

{Of course, I got plenty of "Hammer time" comments, but I'd like to think I brought my feminine A-game. Photo credit: www.babyboomertalkonline.com }

{My next potentially mission-impossible is to find a pair in a great, bright, preppy robin's egg blue, sort of like these from Korean Spree 2009, for an even more interesting juxtaposition. Photo credit: www.joyofsunshine.blogspot.com }

Upon seeing my outfit for the day, my extremely sardonic husband told me that I might get fired and that we might get divorced on account of my pants. I reminded him that I'm currently feeling the man-repeller look (see www.themanrepeller.com, one of my favorite sites, for a comprehensive definition). Anticipating plenty of mockery, I decided to hit my day running with one of my favorite images, above, in mind. (Thanks, Sarah!!)

Can't touch this.
----xoxo