Capri homme

What a difference an inch makes

by Nina Willdorf

LEG SHOW: (top to bottom) cargo shorts from Abercrombie & Fitch, $59.50; Suburban Neighborhood Technology short cargo pants from Urban Outfitters, $44.

Apparently, showing A little leg is no longer a privilege reserved for the fairer sex. From Somerville to Newbury Street, guys' bare half-calves are peeking out all over the place.

The question is, are we looking at short pants, or long shorts? The distinction is important.

``These are short pants," stresses a saleswoman at the Gap in Kenmore Square, pointing at a pair of men's tan mid-calf-length pants. And men, she says, have been clamoring for the pants since early spring, when the Gap started stocking them.

No one's sure where the new length originated. Some salespeople joke that it's basically a male capri -- an attempt to get in on women's bounty of pants options. It could also be a descendant of bike messengers' disheveled cutoffs, a utilitarian way to prevent pants from snagging in bike gears.

But either way, don't call them shorts. Lengthwise, the New Short Pants aren't too far removed from the New Long Shorts. But culturally they're a world apart. The short pants are bike-messenger, club-kid hip. Long shorts (often basketball or cargo) are more a species of sporty, gangsta-inspired daywear. And don't confuse them with slightly-too-short pants, either: those are the province of consciously disheveled grad students.

Right now, most of the short pants are cargoes with coiled drawstrings on the bottom cuffs for easy closure. (Not that you'd actually cinch them. It's a look thing.) But you'll also see cleaner lines and crisp fabrics, like the cotton khaki pants we found on sale at the Gap for $14.99.

Urban Outfitters sells short cargo pants in various shades of khaki ($44); they call their line Suburban Neighborhood Technology. Don't ask (we did, and are still not quite sure what it means). And Abercrombie & Fitch weighs in with what the salespeople are calling "clamdiggers," short cotton pants with flat side pockets, in green and tan ($59.50).

Retail sources mentioned in this article:

* Gap, various locations around Greater Boston.
* Urban Outfitters, 11 JFK Street (Harvard Square), Cambridge, (617) 864-0070; and 361 Newbury Street (Back Bay), Boston, (617) 236-0088.
* Abercrombie & Fitch, 6 JFK Street (Harvard Square), Cambridge, (617) 354-8604; other locations around Greater Boston.