WOMEN'S FASHION:
The Pants Look is Booming in both Casual and Work Wear

JANUARY 30, 1997

Women's pants outfits are increasingly common in the workplace.

The pants look is in for women. And unlike other fashion trends, which tend to come and go with each season, pants appeared on the scene a few years back and continue to enjoy immense popularity today. At the same time, however, a large number of young women have begun donning patterned tights, a trend that is expected to prompt a revival of the miniskirt.

The Shift from Skirts to Pants
Since the end of World War II, when most women put away the traditional kimono in favor of Western dress, skirts have dominated the fashion scene in Japan. However, in the 1990s skirts gave way to pants, with an unprecedentedly large number of women wearing the latter outside the home and even to work.

Studies done by one monthly magazine provide evidence of this shift. According to its surveys of the Shibuya district in Tokyo, a central gathering place for young people, the proportion of women wearing skirts remained at more than 70% in the 1980s but suddenly fell to 50% in the beginning of the 1990s and dipped below 40% in 1996. Slacks, jeans, culottes, and other sorts of pants had taken the place of skirts as the main choice of clothing.

Confirmations of this trend are also provided by the women's apparel industry. According to one manufacturer, the ratio of pants to skirts sales for clothing targeted at working women has reversed itself from 4:6 last year to 6:4 this year. One clothing boutique even reported a 7:3 ratio in favor of pants last winter. And the position of "pants advisor" was set up in the women's clothing sections of some department stores.

Pants as a Statement
What accounts for the popularity of pants today? Many say it is because they are comfortable and practical. Fashion commentators, meanwhile, hold that because of improvements in women's figures brought about by dietary and lifestyle changes, pants now look good on them. They also point to the increasingly blurred lines between how men and women dress and the influence of what stars wear on popular TV dramas.

Although various explanations have been advanced, the one that has attracted the most attention is the theory that the current popularity of pants reflects women's greater independence and their growing role outside the home. Working women are passing over skirts as manifestations of femininity in favor of pants, which they regard as statements of their equality with men.

The current passion for pants is even inciting change in the staid world of company uniforms for women, which until now has been dominated by skirts. In response to requests from its female employees, an air conditioner manufacturer last summer added pants and culottes to the skirts in its line of uniforms and began to let women decide which they would wear. A growing number of companies have begun adopting pants outfits as uniforms, according to one apparel maker.

The Return of the Miniskirt
Skirts have not, however, totally given way to pants. In recent months, there have been increasing signs of a revival of the miniskirt among young women. The driving force behind this is patterned stockings and tights, which are catching on among women in their early twenties under the influence of foreign collections and fashion magazines.

About 15 years ago, white lacy stockings enjoyed a spell of popularity, but black net stockings and other such designs were considered too garish and never caught on among working women. Today, by contrast, black and dark brown net, lace, and flowered stockings and tights are emerging as the most popular types of stockings. The combination of these with short boots and a miniskirt is turning into a major fashion trend among young women.

The speed with which women's fashions change makes it difficult to make any predictions about the future, but one thing that can be said with certainty is that women are enjoying more freedom than ever before in their choice of dress.