Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke in the TV series, The Dukes of Hazzard

First off, hotpants weren’t pants! Nowhere close - they were super-short shorts! Hotpants first burned up the scene in the late 1960s as an alternative to the micro-miniskirt that threatened to expose it all. The hotpant offered an element of modesty in the face of the flashing fashions of the miniskirt, and a brief modicum of comfort for girls unable to bend over to pick up a fallen book, buckle a loose platform shoe strap, or even lean over to hold the hand of the Beatles as they sang up on stage.

Shorts were nothing new, having had a place in history as underwear worn by cabaret stars of the 1920s and 30s. Ladies slipped into the tiny ‘tap pant’ of the 1920s and flaunted their fabulous gams. The shocking style was best remembered on the venerable vixen Marlene Dietrich in her movie roles as The Blue Angel or The Blonde Venus. Dolled up in the sexy short, she enflamed men’s hearts and drove them to passion. So scandalous were her ways that they were seen only behind the closed doors of the cabaret. Upon first seeing hotpants in 1967, at a time when they first became a hot fashion item, Dietrich commented, “I wore hotpants years ago, when they were called shorts.”

	Actress Angie Dickinson, photographed in 1962 wearing skin tight shorts

Some would argue that hotpants had been worn as casual wear long before the mid 1960s when hotpants became a fashion sensation. It's true that skin tight shorts were commonplace as casual wear in the late 50s/early 60s as the above photograph of actress Angie Dickinson, taken in 1962, attests. But the difference between what Angie is wearing and what became known as hotpants, was the length. Hotpants were super-short shorts.

And while women's super-short shorts were called hotpants, super-short fitted men’s shorts were called Stubbies. The story goes that, in the summer of 1972, a pair of salesmen for clothing manufacturer Edward Fletcher and Co meet over a slab of beer to brainstorm a punchy name for their new men's fashion short. As one might imagine, the thinking doesn't meander too laterally, and they soon settled on "Stubbies" (The brand was so successful that Edward Fletcher and Co changed its name to Stubbies).

Hotpants reached the height of their popularity in the early 1970s. Back then, they were often worn with dark tights and knee-length boots to create an edgy, sexy look. They declined in popularity during the late 1970s, but not before having evolved into what became known as cut-offs. These were originally created at home by cutting the legs off trousers, typically jeans, above the knee. How short they were was determined by where the material was cut. The cut was not finished or hemmed and the fabric is left to fray.

	Southwest Airlines flight attendants began wearing hot pants and white go-go boots in 1971
British pop singer Lulu

Cut-offs became so popular, they were sold in stores as such. Originally a practical use for trousers with worn-through knees, they have now developed into a type of shorts in their own right. The ultra-short version of jean cut-offs are also known as Daisy Dukes, in reference to Catherine Bach's character of that name from the American teevision show, The Dukes of Hazzard. Over 5 million copies of her now famous "Daisy Duke" poster have been sold. Daisy wore both hotpants and cut-offs.

The hotpants fashion was revived in the 1990s. Model Kate Moss has been a long time fan and proponent of denim hotpants, taking them to new heights in both their length (or lack thereof) and their popularity. Commonly known as "short shorts" these days, they are still primarily worn by women. They are short, tight shorts, usually made of cotton, nylon, or some other common material. They are meant to emphasize the buttocks and the legs. 

1970s Hotpants photo gallery