The brand name of these reminds me of the disco song Dancing in September, ha. They seem to recreate something of a jungle aesthetic, and similar to the Japanese brand Kapital Kountry, I learn from them what I already know and teach those I care about, about clothing design, for which I hope to never again need to care as if I have to compensate for others' bad taste. I hope I will be paid one day for this kind of insight, but it's from a buddhist perspective, not puritanical humility: these shorts make my loins look humble and my thighs ugly, as if my sex had to be disguised not to be misused. This is not true, it is simply a statement of strategy, that if I go out to work out and stay "totally fit" as Bally says, it's' better to do it with something that says fitness somewhere on a website than to earn money with a Swiss designer wallet and spend it to stay fit with something, that while ugly compared to non-neutral European goods, still says beauty has to be carried like an "accessory" or "arm candy," rather than embodied. These didn't need to be this ugly or frail, but it's a compromise and I will see what's next. They're like wearing a wide-shouldered Talking Heads MTV suit jacket around my crotch and no one comments. I gave them, as one who has trained in fashion, fitness, and quote-unquote wholistic spirituality, and good-natured activism against sweatshops - these were made in Bangladesh, how I do not have any way of finding out now - I gave them a "tall order," to provide total fitness, not as Bally Total Fitness ads defined their mods and clothes in the 1980s (?), but as I and those I hope to meet and have mutual trust with in Colorado, define total fitness. All that said, and I don't know if anyone who will read this cares even one millionth as much about the design of these shorts as I did, it is somewhat cruel to me and my loves, and even workout companions, to wear something that shows off a crotch bulge as a physical presence, while also looking not pretty, thin, and impermanent, but ostentatiously awkward, uncharacteristic of my physique, stamina, and goals for my appearance, etc. Anyway, this feels like I'm doing myself and doing all the beatification and promotion/ justification for this look on my own with no confirmation that what I bring to these shorts is appreciated, admired, or encouraged in any by anyone else. Not getting discarded, but I just had to record what I think about these so I don't give the company any undue merit, not having heard or read any reason to have done so.
