8 Illegal Pairs of Pants: How Fashion Insiders Break Paris' Sexist No-pants Law

If France really wants to remain a leader in the fashion industry, they should consider wiping out a law that makes their country seem like it's trapped in the 1800s. A vintage 19th century law banning women from wearing pants (unless they're riding a bike or a horse) has been kept on the books to this day. Despite protestations of women's rights groups, lawmakers have preserved the outdated Parisian rule as a kind of homage to history. Even if the no-pants law isn't practiced in Paris, it's shocking that it's even in an issue in a country where women practically invented the elegant lady-pant. Do you think the following street-style models posing outside Paris Fashion Week had any idea they were breaking the law? Probably not, but their pants still made a statement.