by Maria K.

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 24, 2008

The business shorts and their cousins - the business capri pants (also known as city shorts or culottes) are popping up everywhere. Every third woman seems to be wearing a pair. Who came up with these things? And, more importantly, ladies, why do you wear them?

A good pair of pants is essential to a woman's wardrobe. Several good pairs of pants are really nice to have, including some for warm and cold weather, some light and some dark, some for business and some for knocking around. A couple of pairs of shorts to wear to the beach or when you cut your grass is great. But why own business shorts - a strange pencil skirt/shorts hybrid that looks as if you were out of business pants of your own, so you raided your ten-year old daughter's closet and pulled on a pair of hers?

Reason # 1. I have great legs and want to show them off.
Umm, have you ever heard of a skirt? They come in all lengths and an even greater number of colors and prints. They also come in great many cuts that might - just might - flatter the rest of you figure and not just your legs. Imagine that!

Reason # 2. They are comfortable.
Well, so are regular pants. It is not as if you are going to climb trees in your business shorts during your lunch break (if you are - you can bring your regular shorts for that, remember?). If you are one of ten people in the United States who still ride a bicycle or walk to work (you are all my heroes by the way, and I salute you!), you probably don't want to do that in your nice crisp business clothes anyway - so wear jeans and a t-shirt and bring your business attire in a roll-up garment bag.

If you don't own nice crisp business attire, go away and don't talk to me until you do. Remember, every successful person will tell you this: dress not like what you are but like what you want to be. If you dress like a mediocre stuck-in-a-rut dweeb, chances are you'll remain a mediocre stuck-in-a-rut dweeb for the rest of your career no matter how brilliant you are, because no one will ever look at you and see you as something more than that. (If you think a woman cannot be a dweeb, think again! I used to be one - believe me, it is possible.)

Back to the subject of comfort, regular pants are comfortable and come in lots of lightweight fabrics that are cool and breathable in the summer months. This is the 21st century, people - we have the technology!

Incidentally, skirts are comfortable too - you should really try them sometime. What did the ancient Romans wear into battle? Tunics.

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