Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Curious Case of the Red Trousers

Happy Wednesday! Hope everyone had a great Easter holiday.

As a transplant to the Land of Hope and Glory (aka Britain), I'm often enthralled by the fashion choices sported by this nation's great people. Over my eight years here, I've blogged about bow-ties and frequently wondered if I was the only one perplexed by men wearing red trousers.

Yes, men wearing red trousers -- frequently of the denim variety, usually paired with a powder-blue dress shirt and/or a brown tweed jacket. My friends, it's as bad as it sounds.

So you can imagine my delight when the wonderful Emma Pass found this link for me (caution! Profanity! Definitely called for when it comes to red trousers!).

Here's a bit from the into:

If you want your leg-coverings to let the world know that you’ve got a few quid and don’t care who knows it, or that you have some big ideas about what’s on at the ICA right now - or simply that you are completely insane (but in a mainly non-stabby way) - then you’d better get your wife or girlfriend to take those jeans and chinos down to the charity shop post-haste! 
Because there’s only one type of trousers you’ll be wanting to wear, and that’s RED TROUSERS. In fact - if you can’t wear red trousers you’d be better off wearing NO TROUSERS AT ALL. That’s what I say.
*quid = pounds
**ICA = Institute of Contemporary Arts in London

Excuse me, I'm off to buy Mr TR a pair of red trousers. Either that, or he's NOT WEARING TROUSERS AT ALL! *ahem*

Do you have red trousers? Are you going to buy some after reading this?

55 comments:

  1. Bwahahahahaha! What can I say, Talli? I simply couldn't let another day go by without alerting you to the presence of this blog.

    And NO, I don't own a pair of red trousers. Neither will I be buying any - not for me, not for hubby and most definitely not for The Hound (can you even get 4-legged red trousers?).

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  2. Talli I saw your link to this on FB last week and I can't stop laughing when I think of it. Superb!

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  3. Methinks this is a plot to get Mr TR nekkid. (Not that you probably need one.)

    NDME

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  4. LOL! I honestly can't recall ever seeing a man in red trousers - aside from Santa - and I have lived in the UK my whole life. Of course, I am almost positive that now I've said that, I will see red trousers all over the place!

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  5. Red trousers?

    To borrow a phrase...what the bloody hell?

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  6. Aarrgghh!!! This is one time I can honestly say I wish I hadn't stopped by hahaha. Nope. No red trousers for me.

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  7. I vote for no trousers of any colour for men. Oh and if the male of the species must wear these then the skin-tight the better.
    :-)

    Take care
    x

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  8. I just got home from London and, yes, I too was astounded by the frequency of red trousers I saw on men. But not just that. They were wearing exceptionally long, pointed shoes as well. You notice these things when you're riding the underground and need to keep your eyes focused on the floor.

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  9. LOL! A colleague of mine was wearing red trousers yesterday and I almost told her how they were all the rage in england (which I knew, thanks to your facebook posts!) LOL- but then I remembered it was mostly a guy thing in England.

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  10. Haha! I love read jeans, no joke :-D

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  11. Now, I wear red--I have a few favorite pantsuits in various shades of red, and one pair of red denim--but my guys? they wouldn't be caught dead in them. Both will wear red T-shirts or button downs.

    I can honestly say, the only place I saw men in red pants was at a Halloween shindig and once driving through the Castro district in San Francisco.

    Sia McKye OVER COFFEE

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  12. Fantastic, Talli. Love the way you do your research, and get pictures to illustrate your posts (although I suspect these men are Talli relatives, carefully posed wearing red trousers, surely it can't be true?)
    Am looking forward to a pic of MrT in red trousers too!

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  14. Red trousers! Love it. What a bold fashion statement. With my black hair and olive skin (haha mixed them up in previous comment), red is one of the colors I love to wear best, but mostly in scarves and shirts and dresses - never pants. Maybe it's time we brought this tradition to the States...

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  15. This is definitely a fashion statement. I had no idea it was also a status symbol.

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  16. I can't say I've seen many men in red trousers. Perhaps I'm not looking hard enough. If I see any, I will think of you (and wonder if the red-trousered one is loaded).

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  17. Funny! Personally, if I have enough money and I'm not afraid to show it, I'll buy whatever colour trouser I want. Why red? I'd go with diamond covered.

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  18. LOL! Awesome! No I don't own a pair and I fear I may not have what it takes to pull off the look. ;) But power to those who do!

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  19. So. Much. Awesome! Sadly, I do not own red trousers... might be time to go shopping! (not) lol

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  20. Nobody wears red trousers round where I live ! I wonder why... we must live in Primark Country.

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  21. LOL! Sometimes, it doesn't pay to be "cool."

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  22. Haha :) Is it terrible to say I have my own pair of red skinny jeans? I suppose its different on women then men.

    Sarah Allen
    (my creative writing blog)

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    1. I used to own one, but they were capris. Does that make it better? Anyway I so rarely wore them because they didn't coordinate with anything.

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  23. I don't own any, but somehow I don't feel bad about it either. Anyway . . . one of those men has pink trousers on, which seems like a total violation.

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  24. Thanks for this! I sent it immediately to my Young Man, who wants to be a Brit when he grows up. Hopefully he will see that not every fashion out of England is worthy of imitation -- that or he'll be purchasing a pair of Red Trousers. :)

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  25. Is the no trousers at all apply to the men only but for us women also.
    Grerat post.

    Yvonne.

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  26. Here in Canada, while in university, my friend Lisa and I noticed the only guys wearing red trousers were in indie bands. This observation made it into a song we wrote for our own band. ("You're so cool, you wear red pants.")

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  27. One fad I don't see happening in Texas. At least not this year.

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  28. You need to pop down to some of the ultra preppy portions of the Southern states, US. You'll see men in colored trousers, red included although kelly green is preferred, and some of those trousers will be adorned with whales or ducks or martini glasses. No denim though, strictly crisply pressed khakis. There are bow ties a plenty too.

    My husband is a Southern boy and did indeed own a pair of kelly green chinos back in his youth. I married him anyway. He has never owned red trousers but has nothing against no trousers : )

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  29. Oh Gooodness, The very thought! Men in red trousers!

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  30. I have never seen a guy wearing red trousers. Apparently, I need to get out more. :-)

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  31. Hi Talli!

    Hilarious! I always remark on red or pink- yes, pink! trousers on man in Bollywood movies- it looks so odd!

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  32. Well, that's something I don't see every day! :-)

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  33. I know about red nose day but not about red trousers.

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  34. Yikes! My hubby would think I'd gone completely loonie if I suggested he needed a pair of red trousers! :)

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  35. Is this one of those 'Brit' humor things those of us in the Western Hemi just don't get. I'm pretty sure my husband would elect none at all compared to red.

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  36. I cannot stop laughing! OMG! and WTF?! hahaha. I think the red trousers have got to go. Yes - definitely better off not wearing anything at all! *shakes head* It's so fascinating to see what people think is good fashion. You find a few oddballs wherever you go!

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  37. Ha, that's so funny! Although, women can rock about any color pants they want, so if we promote equality, I suppose men could wear them. However, I agree they're pretty awful!

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  38. LOL!! My husband would much rather go with the no pants at all than be forced to wear red pants!

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  39. Haha oh my gosh, that's hilarious!

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  40. I have a red shirt, but no red pants. I haven't seen a lot of guys around here in red, but then again Midwestern guys favor regular ol' blue jeans.

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  41. This reminds me of weekend golf. Hubby watches every weekend, and you can always tell when the tournament is across the pond...all the wild pants.

    But hey, red pants ARE kind of cool, lol!

    Angela

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  42. Yuk! That's my reaction to that photo! And no, my husband won't be getting any (red trousers).

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  43. I have to admit to having seen a couple of men in red trousers, thankfully my husband wasn't one of them. *giggling at the thought of him wearing a pair*

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  44. No red trousers for him - but a great pair for me! In fact I just bought some fuschia pink ones - for me. I intend for everyone to know when I'm around this summer... As for him - he can stay with his brown/grey stuff!!

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  45. I've had my read jeans for donkey's years and wore them last week. Now however, they get used for lambing activities as they're really quite old!

    CJ x

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  46. This is too funny! I'm pretty sure I have never seen a guy in red trousers. At least, not seriously. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a fan, either!

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  47. Actually, there's a guy at work who wears red socks with his suit!
    All this reminds me, I'll be in London on Marathon weekend!

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  48. Definitely no red trousers here - I can just see his face if I asked him to wear a pair :-)

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  49. I don't think red trousers would suit me at all, I'll be sticking with jeans lol!

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  50. I tried to convince my son who will be 21 this summer to buy red shorts over spring break. He chose bright green ones instead. Then when he went back to college, he told me that all of his fraternity brothers were wearing red ones. Julie

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  51. Ha ha. Interesting picture. I have red trousers, but it would be strange to be in a crowd with others wearing that color trousers.

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Coffee and wine for all!