From Hammer to harem

In more recent times, the harem trousers have become popularized through appearances in pop culture and via fashion outlets. The rapper MC Hammer’s well-known music video for ‘U Can’t Touch This’ produced in 1990 features himself as well as backup dancers in the clothing item (See step 1 in this tour). The highly influential video led to harem trousers being labelled as ‘Hammer pants’, the launch of a clothing line and the association of harem trousers to the hip-hop music genre.

Harem pants are now so popularized that their Persian origins are sometimes completely forgotten or at most reduced to sweeping orientalist undercurrents. Fashion labels such as Ralph Lauren helped to bring the harem pants into everyday use with its 2009 collection, ‘ready-to-wear’. Within this collection there are multiple references to Orientalism- including the use of silks and headpieces made to look like turbans. Yet, these remain shallow and perhaps superficial references to the harem trousers’ rich history. (Fig. 7.)

This clothing item has since flooded mainstream markets and is now also associated with backpackers (Fig. 8.), festival goers and the yoga world. Looking towards the future, it is still unclear how harem trousers will next be appropriated, but it does seem that they have stood the test of time and are here to stay!