As we wrote our post on Ann Demeulemeester’s sheer pants (or “shants”) this week, it occurred to us that there are lots of terms used here at The Fashion Police that our readers may not be familiar with, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to list and explain those words, providing a handy reference for new and old readers alike. And we’re starting off with shants…

Word: Shants (noun): from the term “sheer pants” and referring to a pair of pants (or trousers, if you’re in the UK), which are are totally sheer.

Crime of Fashion? Oh hell, yes: in fact, we’d venture to suggest that shants are one of the biggest fashion crimes out there. Take a look under the jump if you don’t believe us…

Above: shants on the runway at Marc Jacobs, S/S 08. Around this time, shants were being touted as “the next big thing” and were all set to take over our wardrobes, thankfully that didn’t happen, but there were those who succumbed to the shants evil spell…

Poor Liza Minelli. We had to arrest her for her own safety after this shocking shants crime. She’s up for parole next year, but she’ll only get out if she promises to burn the offending shants and never speak of them again. But where did she get them, we hear you ask? Well, probably from Yoox.com:

Yes, while most retailers stubbornly refused to stock shants, Yoox embraced them wholeheartedly, and cheerfully set about photographing their models wearing nothing but shants and a thong. It was a little disturbing, to be honest:

See what we mean?

The observant among you will already have noticed the suggestion of a dropped-crotch on the pants above. This is part of an ever more frightening sub-category of the shant fashion crime – the harem shant:

Note: they’re even more frightening when they’re worn with white underwear…

Undoubtedly one of the most dangerous fashion criminals out there, we urge you to approach shants with caution – or not at all – and report all sightings to The Fashion Police!

See also:

Shress
Harem pants
Dropped crotch crimes