美国国家公共电台 NPR Despite Pockets Of Popularity, Are Cargo Shorts Gauche?

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Despite Pockets Of Popularity, Are Cargo¹ Shorts Gauche²?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And let's take a moment now to mark a dramatic turning point in men's fashion.

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CRAIG FERGUSON: Cargo shorts.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY: The crime of are they long short pants or short long pants?

FERGUSON: Just, like, you know, who you trying to kid, man? You're not doing any maintenance. You don't need pockets for tools.

INSKEEP: That's former late night host Craig Ferguson with actor Matthew McConaughey talking about those long shorts with baggy³ pockets known as cargo shorts, a staple⁴ of men's summer wardrobes. The Wall Street Journal has now announced a backlash reporting these shorts are ridiculed⁵ by the partners of people who wear them. Maybe you already knew that.

The shorts have even been banned at golf clubs. Joseph Hancock is a design and merchandising professor at Drexel University.

JOSEPH HANCOCK: When you're taking your significant other out to a dressier barbecue function, the last thing that they need to be doing is wearing a cargo short, right?

INSKEEP: Some people would disagree. But sales of cargo shorts are now down for the first time in a decade, according to The Journal. Marshal Cohen is a chief analyst⁶ with NPD Group, a market research firm.

MARSHAL COHEN: It seems that guys have had, you know, have enough. And with this movement towards the more athletic⁷ look, well, cargo shorts are the ones that are paying the price.

INSKEEP: Cargo shorts started out as military style clothing. They were a big trend in the '90s, which is not in this century, by the way. Joseph Hancock, who wrote his Ph.D. on the rebranding of cargo shorts, suggests their popularity can be boiled down to two things.

HANCOCK: With the rise of gadgets⁸, cargo shorts became really popular because not only were they fashionable for the time period, they were functional⁹.

INSKEEP: Now in recent years, much slimmer shorts have replaced cargo shorts in fashionable circles. But they remain fashionable with men who are not interested in being fashionable.