Fashion has always been about pushing boundaries. Using clothing doesn’t just allow people to express themselves, but many designers use it to ask questions about or observations of the world around them. However, I’m not quite sure what these inflatable pants are trying to say, if I’m being totally honest. Maybe it’s a little too haute couture for me.
- Inflatable pants come courtesy of a designer called Harikrishnan. His brand, Harri, makes the pants in two colors. There’s a basic black but also a green and white stripe version that make me feel like I’m living inside some bizarre dystopian nightmare. Of course, the likes of Vogue and GQ think they’re brilliant. Of course!
- They’re made of latex. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be inside of a balloon, now’s your chance. Harri’s inflatable pants are made entirely of latex and are now available for pre-order after making their catwalk debut back in March 2020. Something tells me there won’t be too much of a waiting list for these, but who knows?
- Their wear is extremely limited. Weirdly enough, you can’t just wear these out anywhere you’d like. The inflatable pants come with very specific warnings, including not being able to wear them in any type of heat or daylight as well as avoiding being around metals and oils of any kind. So where exactly can you wear these things?
- You actually have to powder up like Ross to get them on. Who could forget the classic Friends episode with Ross and his leather pants? He’s sweating so bad in the bathroom on a date that he can’t get the pants pulled back up and ends up combining powder, lotion, and water, eventually making a paste and nearly knocking himself out in the process. Get ready to recreate that classic sitcom moment because you’ll have to powder up to get your inflatable pants on. Then you can hook up a pump to the valve included in the pants and get going.
- The pants are both fashion and art project. Talking to Hypebeast France, the 26-year-old designer revealed his inspiration for the pants, explaining, “The idea [came about] when I was playing with my pet dog. I was aware of dogs’ vision and differences compared to humans, but the interesting aspect was the exaggeration of objects viewed from such a low angle, reminding me of fisheye lens images. Visualizing the world through his eyes was exciting and humorous with strange possibilities in terms of proportions. The thought of him seeing me as a giant figure or not seeing my head was quite puzzling. So, I decided to visually distort the people around me, inspired by his eyes.” Cool, cool…
- If you do want these, you can order them on APOC. If you want the striped pair, they’ll run you a cool $1,961. The black ones are slightly cheaper at $1,160.
