“One time, I saw Regina George wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops.”
That’s a line straight out of Mean Girls, the circa 2004 movie about surviving a suburban high school and its cliques. Today, the same could be said for Bella Hadid—or Rihanna, or Dua Lipa—and cargo pants. “I saw Bella wearing cargo pants and stilettos, so I bought cargo pants and stilettos,” is surely something that’s been posted on TikTok by now.
Cargos have been trending for a few seasons—chalk it up to the persistent popularity of Y2K—but at the spring collections of Saint Laurent, Dries Van Noten, and The Attico, and in Phoebe Philo’s debut drop last week, the vibe was new. We weren’t seeing cargo pants, baby tees, and chunky sneakers, but sophisticated cargos dressed all the way up. It might not be a coincidence that Mean Girls is returning in January, this time as a musical. Everything old is new again, sometimes all it takes is a good filter (no, that wasn’t an Instagram pun).
Christopher John Rogers has been including elevated versions of cargo pants in his lineups since spring 2020. “I think comfort and utility have become increasingly important to customers today, and we’re also seeing a slight flattening of trends, where now almost anything goes,” said the designer. “It’s also about getting the most out of your clothes.”
The post-pandemic fashion landscape has loosened conceptions about what constitutes “dressed-up.” What counts as fancy today is not what was considered so back in the Before Times. “Post-COVID, the cargo pant has become an elevated luxury wardrobe staple,” said Yumi Shin, chief merchandising officer at Bergdorf Goodman. “I find it most interesting when their perceived casualness is contrasted in luxurious fabrics, juxtaposed with a tailored jacket and styled with the right accessories such as a chic sandal.” She named cargos by Rogers, Luke and Lucie Meier at Jil Sander, and Chitose Abe’s Sacai as key styles.
Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini’s collections for The Attico have helped define the new influencer wardrobe, but the distinctiveness of their sensibility lies in the way in which they challenge how wardrobe staples can be worn. Some of the Internet’s favorite dressers today do just that: give things enough of a twist that they find new life. See Marc Forné, stylist to Troye Sivan and Manu Rios, who mixes his camo cargos with pinstripe tailoring, and stylist and consultant Amanda Murray, who pairs vintage army surplus cargos with a trailing Dries Van Noten blouse or an an evening top by Junya Watanabe.
“At first, some people were a little confused as to why an ‘eveningwear’ brand was offering something like our cargos,” said Rogers. “But over the years they’ve become a key part of our visual language as a brand, and they tend to perform quite well.” Shin has also seen customers pick up on the trend. “Our customers are responding to the cargo pant across many different brands, silhouettes, and materials,” she said, adding that the look extends past pants: “It’s not only about the cargo pant but the cargo pocket detail in general such as the coveted Miu Miu skirts.”
“I think wearing a cocktail dress to an event is fab, of course, but an oversized button-down and cargo trousers in silk is much more interesting in my opinion,” said Rogers. You heard it here first: When looking for an evening option to wear to your next gala, don’t discount your cargos.