08th Oct 2009
Spandex Pants – A Once Popular but Now Dead Fashion
The material spandex is also known as elastane in Europe and is a material famous for its stretchiness. It is more elastic than its next closest competitor – rubber. It was invented in the late 1950s by American chemist Joseph Shivers. Unlike many other materials, spandex isn’t derived from the actual fibers that the material is made of. It is an anagram of the word ‘expands’, a tribute to its extreme elasticity.
The most famous spandex brand is Lycra. Spandex is used to produce articles of clothing where elasticity is valued to fit the article of clothing snugly to the human body. Spandex is usually used to produce sports and dancewear but is also used in everything from bra straps to swimsuits. Basically anything that requires material to stretch significantly is likely to contain spandex.
The most famous article of clothing containing spandex are probably spandex pants. These are pants usually used by dancers or athletes to either flatter their bodies or make them more streamlined for competition respectively. Spandex pants are often also used by athletes or people exercising as compression clothing. These spandex pants promote blood circulation and increase the flow of oxygen to the athlete’s muscles. For those who are not so comfortable with wearing tight clothing because of supposedly unsightly body shapes, black spandex pants can greatly reduce the effect of wearing such tight clothing.
Spandex has also featured heavily in popular culture, both in real life and in fiction. The singer Kylie Minogue famously featured her butt in a pair of short gold spandex pants in one of her music videos that catapulted her to stardom. In the 1970s and 1980s, many glam metal bands also embraced the black spandex look with Queen, Van Halen and Iron Maiden all donning the tight spandex pants in their shows. The popularity of spandex among musicians came from their elasticity which enabled a greater freedom of movement for performers.
Spandex is also widely accepted as the material of choice for superhero costumes in both comic book and film incarnations. Although never explicitly referred to as spandex in many comic books, most film adaptations of superhero stories have featured protagonists in skin-tight spandex. Many Japanese superhero series like the Power Rangers also dress the heroes in spandex.
By the beginning of the 1990s, spandex had begun to fall out of fashion as musicians and other pop culture icons switched back to baggy denim and leather as the grunge scene took over from the glam metal bands of the previous decade. Although no longer widely accepted as street-wear, spandex and the Lycra brand continue to live on, immortalized as dance and sportswear.
The material spandex is also known as elastane in Europe and is a material famous for its stretchiness. It is more elastic than its next closest competitor – rubber. It was invented in the late 1950s by American chemist Joseph Shivers. Unlike many other materials, spandex isn’t derived from the actual fibers that the material is made of. It is an anagram of the word ‘expands’, a tribute to its extreme elasticity.
The most famous spandex brand is Lycra. Spandex is used to produce articles of clothing where elasticity is valued to fit the article of clothing snugly to the human body. Spandex is usually used to produce sports and dancewear but is also used in everything from bra straps to swimsuits. Basically anything that requires material to stretch significantly is likely to contain spandex.
The most famous article of clothing containing spandex are probably spandex pants. These are pants usually used by dancers or athletes to either flatter their bodies or make them more streamlined for competition respectively. Spandex pants are often also used by athletes or people exercising as compression clothing. These spandex pants promote blood circulation and increase the flow of oxygen to the athlete’s muscles. For those who are not so comfortable with wearing tight clothing because of supposedly unsightly body shapes, black spandex pants can greatly reduce the effect of wearing such tight clothing.
Spandex has also featured heavily in popular culture, both in real life and in fiction. The singer Kylie Minogue famously featured her butt in a pair of short gold spandex pants in one of her music videos that catapulted her to stardom. In the 1970s and 1980s, many glam metal bands also embraced the black spandex look with Queen, Van Halen and Iron Maiden all donning the tight spandex pants in their shows. The popularity of spandex among musicians came from their elasticity which enabled a greater freedom of movement for performers.
Spandex is also widely accepted as the material of choice for superhero costumes in both comic book and film incarnations. Although never explicitly referred to as spandex in many comic books, most film adaptations of superhero stories have featured protagonists in skin-tight spandex. Many Japanese superhero series like the Power Rangers also dress the heroes in spandex.
By the beginning of the 1990s, spandex had begun to fall out of fashion as musicians and other pop culture icons switched back to baggy denim and leather as the grunge scene took over from the glam metal bands of the previous decade. Although no longer widely accepted as street-wear, spandex and the Lycra brand continue to live on, immortalized as dance and sportswear.
Posted by Katherine under
Pants and Shorts
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