1. Histories

Let me throw some pants on –

And by this I mean to get ready to go.

To put a pair of pants on is to make oneself presentable, to cloak, to become public.

Pants are a lens into the civics of things. Put a pair of pants on it; render it non-vulnerable, polish it, complete its look, protect it, make it able to move quickly.

But also this object which renders things public is the most personal of garments. Pants are those which meet in the middle, oftentimes smashed against one’s crotch. They are a nexus of public and personal space. Pants are a threshold.

I don’t know what I expected when I sent out the call for submissions. Fashion stories I think, pictures of patterned leggings. Instead I revived personal narratives and etymological histories. Things which conceptualize this object that is twain and civic, taking them (for pants are never one thing) as a starting point and moving outward into realms tangential. Pants are a beginning, a path forward, a tool to facilitate movement…

This is the first issue. When you begin a thing it is necessary to look backward to examine where you came from. Therefore this is the histories issue. Here are a loose fitting bunch of histories with lots of room for interpretation. History sweatpants, as it were.

Kate Johnston
Los Angeles, November 2013