Skants, skousers and one-legged pants
The bottom half of the body has been getting a lot of attention lately as garments have been developed with names that can be challenging to keep up with, the way fashion cycles have been accelerating on social media. The latest uproar is over the one-legged jeans of Coperni, with only one leg covered and the other exposed. Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times called it “a step too far” while Carson Kressley of RuPaul’s Drag Race hopes the trend “falls short and doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
This hybrid follows the skorts look—or shorts with the appearance of a skirt—which was actually popularized in the 1970s and 1980s; skousers or skirts over pants which took off in the 1990s and became popular again as zoomers mined vintage pieces from that decade; and skants which combine the appearance of a skirt with the features of pants.
Filipino designer Dennis Lustico actually made a hybrid of his own, turning a terno’s skirt into a pants-skirt combination. Fashion designers, of course, have to keep experimenting with tailoring to keep it fresh every season. But couture is one thing, reserved for the privileged few. When a piece like jeans—held sacred by the masses—is fooled around with, then you get into trouble.
Asymmetry is actually a thing this year, with uneven skirt hemlines ubiquitous in the runways, and many other houses featuring one-legged pants in their collections. Louis Vuitton had them matched with sculptural tunics while Victoria Beckham’s one-armed suits had one leg slashed. Matthieu Blazy took Gen Z by storm with his versions matched with sharp-shouldered blazers for Bottega Veneta.
Blazy, who was recently appointed artistic director of Chanel, conceptualized his show around childhood, the sense of wonder and playfulness—with the one-leg wonder inspired by a character from Richard Scarry’s books—Lowly Worm who wore a Tyrolean hat, red bowtie and a singular shoe. “Personally, I loved the Bottega option, it was powerful and had a twist of sexiness,” says Poppy Lomax, head buyer at Harrod’s.
Alix Morabito of Galeries Lafayette, on the other hand, thought, “At first no, it has no commercial potential. But with many eclectic designs coming out, some fashion customers will dare enough to wear it. It will certainly be perceived as a very fashion-forward piece, but it can be integrated in a new clothes vocabulary if the trend persists.”
This is not the first time that the single-leg trouser has appeared. Ukrainian designer Ksenia Schnaider’s has been toying around with jeans for some time, creating the demi jeans in 2018 by layering jorts or cut-off jeans shorts over slim jeans, favored by the likes of Dua Lipa and the Hadids. The following year, her half-flare, half-slim leg jeans went viral.
In Seoul, Pushbutton by former K-pop star Seung Gung Park did an acid-washed one-leg style. For SS 2023, Eckhaus Latta, Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Puppets and Puppets presented one-legged looks dubbed by Harper’s Bazaar as “Agents of Chaos.”
“I believe the one-leg pant is inspired by the ‘only wearing stockings’ trend we observed in 2024, where the bottom of the outfit becomes the main star, rather than the top,” says fashion analyst Frida Tordhag.
This trend included wearing granny panties or briefs over tights paired with a T-shirt and jacket. “This, together with an increase in basic pieces with asymmetrical designs, adds an interesting twist to styling.”
Maud Pupato, buying director of Printemps, shares that asymmetrical styles will always be part of their assortment since they are “very desirable and customers like to have essential pieces with a modern twist. I think it’s more about a new approach to pants than strictly a one-legged pants trend.”
This trend only works with the right styling. A slimmer leg could be appropriate for a night out, paired with a strappy top or it could be toned down by layering it under an oversized blazer just like at Bottega. Helena Tejedor, the Parisian stylist behind the Coperni show, suggests pairing them with a white T-shirt and sneakers so there aren’t too many focal points: “One weird element in the silhouette mixed with classic clothes is always good to strike the right balance so it doesn’t look costumey.”
Of course, pop stars wearing it will help it hit the mainstream and Taylor Swift’s one-legged sequined bodysuit on her latest tour certainly pushed the look. The controversial Coperni jeans have actually been wiped out on their website. DIY fashionistas who can’t get their hands on the hot garment are even giving their old blue jeans the scissors treatment just to be on trend.
Tara Gonzalez, a writer for Harper’s Bazaar, did just that and was surprised to find that she “even felt sexy, and inclined to pair them with two other unexpected pieces.” Sarah Aphrodite, a designer who adopted the look in 2018 with asymmetrical pleated pants, which she created on a whim, was a bit too early for the wave. She thinks society wasn’t ready for the “freakish sexiness then but we’re ready now,” saying, “I feel we live in a time of questioning the systems we are part of. To cut off a leg of a pair of pants is kind of doing the same thing. We’re used to regular pants – the most normal, basic item of clothing—but by cutting off one leg, it’s like saying, “Why? Let’s question that!’”
When you think of it, there was a time when even the normal two-legged pants for women were considered radical. Fashion always takes risks and that’s what keeps it fresh and exciting. Zacariah Fairfax, another one-leg proponent, believes “Art—particularly fashion—concurrently reflects, dictates and defies convention. Only through the shifting of collective consciousness does society decide what is or isn’t conventional. I encourage the skeptical to take a leap!”
