When shorts command more attention than trousers could

At S$9,200 for a pair of shorts, the price for the Dior ‘Delft’ bermudas is really hard to swallow. How does one sit with more than seven metres of fabric behind them? But we were drawn to it when we first saw it on the livestream in June last year. It has to be seen and touched. However, at the Dior store recently, the piece was nowhere in sight. When we tried to describe it to the SA, she asked, half-heartedly: “Is it a runway piece?” Er, yes, we think so (aren’t they all?). “Oh, runway piece not here yet.” When will it be in store? “Don’t know.” We were in a Delft state of mind, so we thought we’d see if there are other shorts that would make us happy. And there it was. We did not think we’d ever be shopping for shorts in Dior, but there we were, meeting a very alluring pair.

Better still, it was something wearable—the La Cigale as it was called. For sure, it was not the Delft, not even a close cousin. Yet it held its own, beckoning. We were immediately drawn to the shape. It was slightly tented, but not enough to make it a ‘skort’. There were the cargo pockets (placed askew)—utilitarian and assuring, so that guys would not think they were wearing something unmanly. But what would they make of the centre-right and left, about the same level of the hips, that were two pointy protrusions? They’re bulges that should not be there. A seam-as-dart across the crotch ended at a point on each side. Behind them were paddings, as if misplaced Bar jacket hip augmentations. From the profile, the shorts looked like a brassiere had slipped down there.

A pair of shorts has not spoken to us so felicitously for a very long time. This was more so when we saw that many of the other pieces of the spring/summer season were shockingly unexciting. It looked to us like Uniqlo, wrongly housed. Keeping to shorts, there was even a pair of “track shorts”, as Dior called them. And they were. Regular ones, too, except for the “Montaigne” embroidered text that read: “Dior/Avenue Montaigne/Paris/France (so that you won’t mistake it for Paris, Texas, USA)”. We were certain we had seen it in Bangkok’s Chatuchak market before. You can, therefore, understand why the La Cigale had such a pull. According to Dior, “the shorts can be paired with a lightweight knit sweater for a couture look”. We don’t know about that.

The Dior ‘La Cigale’ shorts, SGD3,700, is available at Dior stores. Photo: Zhao Xiangji