As Parsons professor and fashion historian Beth Dincuff Charleston tells the Wall Street Journal , “It’s a gutsy move to wear ugly clothes.” For some women, wearing clothes that invite insults and laughter is well worth the mockery. In the wonderfully titled piece, “Ridicule Keeps Fans of Harem Pants From Getting Too Big for Their Britches ” Rachel Dodes interviews several women who claim that they’re not going to let go of their fancy harem pants anytime soon, regardless of what critical friends, family members, or strangers have to say about it. “I feel like I look very chic in my harem pants,” Maggie Betts, who spent $400 on a pair of black silk harem pants, tells Dodes, “Anybody who makes fun of me doesn’t know the truth and is a loser.” The pants, as hideous as some of us (by some of us, I mean: me) think they are, are actually selling quite well, and …
