Hot pants were a short-lived fashion of the early 1970s that evoked the unconventional attitudes of the youth that had burgeoned in the 1960s. An adaptation of the 1960s mini skirt, hot pants offered the wearer a measure of modesty that the mini could not provide. For those who wished their panties to be revealed, the stylish solution lay in short, tight, sometimes cuffed, hot pants. Designed to be worn either as an item of clothing in its own right, or as the revealed under-garment of maxi-length outfits, hot pants looked smartest when worn with tights (fishnets, opaques) and platform boots. The open fronts and side slits of maxi outfits permitted legs and hot pants to be visible, effecting a mod look and attitude that signified the trendiness of the wearer in that period.

A fashion advertisement for hot pants.