The Harem Pant Makes A Triumphant Return

Every few decades, the droopy-poopy diaper booty makes a return to the mainstream in different forms — it came in the 1910s with the "oriental" Poiret pant, made a shiny return in the '80s with the Hammer pant, and took on a goth-glam spin in the late '00s in the form of a black jersey drop-crotch. To most, these styles are a complete enigma (What holds it up? Is all the extra room comfy or bunchy? But…why?), and to a rare group, it's the best thing to happen to pants since the invention of zippers.

The cycle seems to be speeding up, however. Just as we thought that the OAK-era of harem pant breathed its last flappy breath, a pair of droopy trousers appeared at the CBS upfronts in NYC last night — on Halle Berry, no less! Made of a gray, knit suiting fabric, the pants were held up by an embellished belt, and paired with classic gray pumps and a simple tee. Here's the thing: If the pants were just your average, run-of-the-mill, regular-crotched variety, this look would have been fairly unremarkable (save for the fact that Berry is remarkable enough on her own to make even jorts and a freebie T-shirt look swanky). But, in a drop-crotch, it's like whoa. Just try to look away.

It's a daring move for anyone to do in 2014, and could have easily felt tone-deaf if worn in a way that looked like it was trying too hard. But, on Berry, the slouchy bottoms appeared effortless and cool, and are reason enough to excavate our own pairs out of storage this weekend.