The Accidental Stylist: Daisy Dukes

The Accidental Stylist is a weekly post where Mercer, our residential clumsy hipster, tries out and writes about the newest and flashiest in alternative fashion. Were you curious about bubble nails, but didn’t want to have to try them yourself? This is the feature for you.

Shorts have come a long way since the knickerbockers of the early 1900s, despite always being a staple in women’s fashion. From capris to bermuda shorts, high-waisted to hip-hugging, shorts have been used as everything from a political statement to a career move.

In 1979, along with The Dukes of Hazzard, a cultural phenomenon was born: Daisy Dukes. These high-waisted, labia-adjacent shorts worn by Daisy, the cousin of the eponymous main characters, have been writhing about in fashion over the course of the past three decades, only to recently make an upsurgence in alternative fashion. Much like the Doc Martens of our last post, the shorts weren’t part of the original costume for Daisy Duke, but were instead an idea of Catherine Bach, the actress who was selected to play her. Not content with the turtleneck and poodle skirt originally slated for the character, she brought a torn-up t-shirt, some boots, and a pair of cut-up old shorts from home—soon to be made infamous by her role.

Since then, the dukes have been made famous by actresses such as Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson (who played Daisy Duke in the 2005 movie-rendition of the show) and other wholesome, All-American beauties. Also, interestingly enough, in early 1990s rap fashion and culture. Why, then, have they become so popular with boho hipsters and the type of people that shop at Polyvore and Urban Outfitters?

To be transparent, I never thought I would wear anything like this out in public for a few reasons, the main one being that I get chub rub like it’s nobody’s business. Given that, I normally wear skirts, or longer pants that don’t have the potential to get crushed up between my thighs and eaten by my vagina. It’s uncomfortable and would render me unable to wear anything that exposed my thighs to each other for at least another week. Most of the other reasons are due to my own body sensitivity and insecurity.

While I can’t explain why they suddenly became popular again, other than the known trend of fashion recycling itself, I can explain why I likely will be wearing them again, but maybe not out in public for a whole day:

Things I liked:

Comfort

These things are super comfy. I don’t know if any of you, like me, have a penchant for stealing boxers/underwear from your partner, but that’s essentially what they feel like. The ones I purchased were a loose-fitting, super-soft denim pair that was crazily pre-distressed, which may have made them more comfortable than my other options. I did see some others that had crazy studs all over them and looked to be skin tight that might not have been so comfortable. My butt gets itchy from sitting in fishnets for too long, I couldn’t imagine sitting on studded denim.

My bum-bum looked nice

I was not gifted with bountiful confidence, which means that most of the time when I go out, I ask my husband one-bajillion times if I look okay or if something that I’ve put on looks stupid. I did not have to do that in these shorts. There was just enough bum-cheekage peeking out that it wasn’t gratuitously inappropriate, but did look sexy enough to give me an extra boost in confidence to say to myself  “Yeah, girlfriend, you look good.” Going out after saying that kind of mantra to yourself just makes everything go easier.

More room for activities

Much like my favorite article of clothing of all time, spandex: Daisy Dukes meant that I had a lot of room to move around. One of my main complaints towards shorts is that I can’t do splits or cartwheels or spur-of-the-moment interpretive dances in them. What can I say, I’m just a lady that likes to do what she wants when she wants. There are already enough things in the world telling me not to do that; I don’t need my clothing to do so too. I tested this by doing some yoga in these shorts and seeing if they would rip. They did not. Again, though, these were a pretty loose variation on the other painted-on ones that I have seen some other ladies wear of late.

Things I didn’t like:

Chub rub

As predicted, these shorts quickly snuck away into my crotch, leaving my thighs to fight amongst themselves like catty girls at prom. I don’t need to go into detail with what that felt like, I don’t think, but definitely uncomfortable. Luckily, I just read an article on BuzzFeed rating products to avoid chub rub, so maybe I’ll be giving those a go soon and I’ll be able to wear these suckers again.

High-waistedness

High waists can look really lovely on some people, but because I have huge hips and a relatively small waist, it’s just an instant FUPA accentuater. I don’t notice this on other women that wear these kinds of things, but I definitely notice it on myself. Don’t mistake this for lack of confidence but instead just an overall honesty with myself about my body. Another issue with high-waisted things (other than skirts) and my body type is that my torso is fairly short in comparison to my legs, so I almost always had a horrifying wedgie just by nature of the beast.

Cat-calling

Wearing an outfit like this means that men feel like they have the right to say whatever they want about my body whether it be directly to me, or just to the world at large. On the day that I wore these, I got lots of hungry “Mmm mmm”s following me, as well as plenty of “damn girl”s and “gimme dat”s. No one should have to deal with this, and perhaps it doesn’t happen to all people that wear Daisy Dukes in public, but it certainly upped my aggravation levels, and made me not want to wear them again.

Verdict? I can totally see why people of all demographics would want to wear these shorts: they are comfy, attractive, and easy to move around in. That being said, I think they may be better for women who do not have the bountiful thighs that I do, for chicks that have an anti-chafe plan in place, or for a lady that isn’t planning on letting her thighs kiss for the next week. Either way, I’ll be wearing these again, but likely not just around town—I’d suspect more for a festival or weekend in the country. How about you? Have you worn Daisy Dukes before? What did you think?

Better yet, how do you prevent chub rub?

^{Photo via Flickr/lacamaradepaolo}