Dancewear trend: trash bag shorts and pants

It seems like just about every ballet dancer has a trash bag short, pant, or both.  At my studio, they are popular in modern dance as well.  Juliet Doherty, dancer at the San Francisco Ballet School, YAGP winner, and Discount Dance model named trash bag shorts as one of her top "insider picks" for Discountdance.com's blog for August 2014.  Google pictures of professional dancers in class, and you will find pics of everyone from Polina Semionova to Beckanne Sisk wearing these swishy pants.

Also called ripstop pants or sauna pants, these loose and somewhat goofy looking garments have been going in and out of style forever.  The technology behind them is nothing new: wear fabric that is not breathable, and your body will get warmer and sweat more.  There is no doubt that it works.  Wearing trash bag pants during warm up or backstage before a performance will ensure that the legs (especially the hips) are warmed up enough to dance without injury.  

When I first saw these shorts and pants, I thought the were a little funny looking, but now I use them regularly to warm up my body.  As far as fashion goes, these garments can sometimes make wide hips look wider, and their baggy style can swallow up tiny dancers, so be aware if this concerns you.  However, since the main goal is function, don't worry too much about how you look.  Be more concerned about how the non breathable fabric warms the body like nothing else.  

Check out style numbers BW764 (shorts) and BW701 (pants)

Do you like trash bag pants?  Leave a comment!