And yet they can’t stop wearing them.
At 5 foot 8, Ghislaine Engel has always struggled to find pants with a long enough inseam. So when the 29-year-old content creator came across Zara’s “Flowy Wide Leg Pants” in an Amsterdam store, she recalls exclaiming, “‘Oh my God, they’re the perfect
pants!’”
The US$45.90 ($78.45) pants are made entirely of polyester. They come in six different colours, and Engel chose brown to style with a matching striped brown-and-white T-shirt. She first wore the pants on a trip to Antwerp. Engel says she hadn’t worn them for 10 minutes before she tripped three times. She resorted to holding the pant legs above her ankles while she walked.
Engel owns a few pairs of long, wide-leg pants. But the Zara pants are different, she says: “Your whole foot gets stuck in the bottom.”
She tried wearing the pants again at the beach, which she thought would present fewer obstacles than city streets. Walking back from a cafe, Engel juggled both pant legs and an iced coffee. Her friend, who also works in social media, decided to film the scene. Engel posted the video on TikTok with the caption “Literally already broke my neck 46 times already”.
Engel assumed she was just clumsy. But the video garnered comments from hundreds of women who had been injured by falling while wearing the same pants. Soon, the pants became known online as “lethal trousers” and “Zara death pants”. A representative for Zara did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
Emma McClendon, 39, is a fashion historian with a specialty in pants. She says every trend hits an extreme point. This pair of Zara pants may be it.
The wide leg and elasticated waistband are vestiges of pandemic-era dressing, she explains, while rising temperatures have helped popularise a “loose minimalist” aesthetic of pyjama-like silhouettes.
You may be wondering how a “lethal trouser” made it through product testing. From start to finish, it takes Zara only two to three weeks to produce a garment because of the company’s vertically integrated supply chain. Testing for clothing, according to McClendon, typically entails a stationary mannequin or a fit model. But women fall in these pants while walking at a quick pace or going up and down steps, not standing in a studio.
There is a rich history of women’s clothing made for static poses. The “Zara death pants” remind McClendon of the hobble skirt. Quite trendy in 1910, the garment tapered toward the ankles. This meant wearers could take only small steps; women struggled to get into trolley cars.
“These pants are the latest example,” says McClendon. “The fact that consumers keep wearing them shows a dedication to a look, pose and static picture as opposed to a lived bodily experience.”
Although the photographs on Zara’s website show the pants pooling around a model’s feet, McClendon adds that ready-wear and fast-fashion brands often sell pants with longer inseams, expecting that customers will get them hemmed.
Jodie Mclaren, 33, knew the Zara pants were “a little bit long” when she tried them on at a London store. She recalls thinking, “They’re fine for now, and I’ll think about getting them hemmed.”
“They’re really comfy. It’s just you have to worry about moving,” Jodie Mclaren says of Zara’s “Flowy Wide Leg Pants.” Photo / Jodie Mclaren via The Washington Post
She fell the first day she wore them. Headed to work, Mclaren tripped on to the pavement while crossing the street. A group of schoolchildren happened to be watching. “I tried to walk as fast as possible back to the [train] station,” she says. “I didn’t think about the fact that I was bleeding.” Her knees, hands and elbows had been cut and bruised. It was about 7.30am, “a great start to the day,” she says jokingly.
Once the workday finished, she took an Uber from her office to her mother’s home, where her mother immediately hemmed the pants. Mclaren was surprised that 12cm – almost five inches – needed to be cut off for the hemline to hit at her ankles.
Even in the safer, hemmed version, Mclaren needs to hold up the pant legs while crossing the road and walking up steps. Nonetheless, she keeps wearing them. “They’re really comfy. It’s just you have to worry about moving,” she remarks.
Engel has not stopped wearing the pants, either, but she knots the bottom of the legs up with hair ties. “It looks ridiculous,” she says. “But I’m scared I will fall and break my leg, my arm or something worse.” She removes the hair ties for photos or once she sits down.
When Engel visited a Zara store a few days ago, she saw the pants for sale. “It made me giggle,” she says. “The things we do for fashion, right?”
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