Gauchos are wide-legged, mid-calf pants for women. They have a cuff that extends all the way to the ankle. Known as South American cowboy pants, they were in style from the early to mid-1970s. Like culotte shorts or skorts, gauchos were longer and meant to serve as a more formal alternative to skirts and slacks.
The French designer Yves Saint Laurent was the first to popularize a more masculine look for women’s clothing. His trouser suits and smoking tuxedo jackets were a big hit with fashion-conscious women after 1968. In the following years, trousers outsold dresses and skirts. The women’s liberation movement, which accepted unconventional roles for women, contributed to the boom. Gaucho pants became more common after bans against wearing pants at formal events and work declined significantly. Argentine and Uruguayan pampas cowboys wore pants like these. In the 18th and 19th centuries, gauchos achieved mythic status for their riding skills and fierce independence. Though somewhat unusual in cut, the gaucho pants reflected the growing interest in ethnic looks and world cultures in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fashion writers praised them as a modern alternative to skirts.
Gauchos first became popular in the fall of 1970. In the August 30, 1970, issue of the New York Times Magazine’s twice-yearly fashion supplement, American designer Anne Klein offered Gray flannel gauchos. It didn’t take long for the mass-market apparel sellers to catch on. Often, they were worn with boots, another new trend in women’s clothing of the time. But gauchos had fallen out of favor within a few years. Mid-calf lengths break the leg line, and they seem to give the wearer a wider silhouette or shape than desired. Unflattering to most, they eventually became synonymous with some of the decade’s worst fashion trends.
