jodhpurs

The Fashion Statement: Hoof It

Among those of us who've lived through harem pants back in the Eighties, some just can't go there again. We get it.

Thankfully, there's an alternative: jodhpurs. Much like harem pants, crotches on jodhpurs hang low, hips are full and pants are slim from knee to ankle-this is the pant silhouette for fall and is showing up on traditional trousers albeit to a lesser extreme-with the added bonus that you don't hear You Can't Touch This ringing in your head. Instead, enter images of Jackie O.

Belgian husband-and-wife team An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx of A.F. Vandevorst got all horsey on us. Like modern day centaurs, models trotted out in jodhpurs sporting platform boots that looked like hooves. The line includes horse-blanket striped blouses and body jewelry that resembles bridles (see above).

Brit bad boy Alexander McQueen was all about jodhpurs and riding jackets ripped straight from the English countryside in his pre-fall collection. He showed the looks with small top-hats and riding crops which, to the delight of McQueen fans, had a slight S&M effect.

Coming off a Middle Eastern theme last spring, Polo Ralph Lauren went back to its WASP-y, to-the-manor-born roots presenting velvet and tweed jodhpurs topped with proper vests (the label's classic trousers looked like something out of Horse and Hound). Or did it?

Gallery: The Fashion Statement: 09/10/09