Comfy-cool and combat-ready, the cargo pant trend makes its inevitable return with more chic iterations than ever before.
If you’ve been an avid follower of key street style trends, you’ll know that fashion-forward doesn’t necessarily translate into figure-flattering. But like most things in life, options with greater risk can sometimes yield the greatest reward.
Gone are the days where micro-trends were only attainable for those with model figures or It-Girl followings. The time is now to embrace your body and wear whatever you please so long as you wear it with conviction.
Here at FQ, we love a micro-trend. Though some of us are hard and fast about our personal style, there’s always wiggle room for trends that resurface with certain elements of practicality. Take the casual white sneaker trend, for example, this made days on our feet far less strenuous and meant that our dresses otherwise restricted to formal occasions could be worn daily (getting that cost-per-wear down = crucial). Or the boiler suit resurgence. It was the one-and-done solution our wardrobes were dying for.
Now, the topic of cargo pants has been raised. And, if recent exhibits following the fashion shows around the world are anything to go by, we’re seriously in questioning.
Bella Hadid steps out in an all-white cargo ensemble.
Much like the aforementioned boiler suit (or jumpsuit), the cargo pant’s origins date back to World War II. Worn by the British Armed Forces from as early as 1938, cargo pants – and their large exterior pockets – were used to store field dressings, maps, ammunition and other items. Practical, yes. Flattering, not so much.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s – when the trend notoriously returned – these pockets were probably filled with sticks of Hubba Bubba, Gameboy’s, wallet chains and band buttons and likely to blame for the awkward memories of adolescence conjured up when faced with the impending trend (we feel you!).
Fast-forward to present day and you’ve got designers such as Balenciaga, Givenchy, Prabal Gurung, and Jonathan Simkhai making cargo cool again with varying interpretations to speak to many a style tribe. However, unlike the late-eighties and nineties style cues, cargo pants aren’t being worn with crop tops, boob tubes and ribbed muscle tanks, rather, they’re being worn with regular blouses, shirts and outerwear making them a seamless trend to integrate into any existing wardrobe.
With athleisure, scumbro and nineties nostalgia at an all-time high, is it any wonder mom jeans and kick-flares are being replaced by cargo pants?
How to wear the cargo pant trend according to street style:
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