A history of shorts

IN this tropical weather, the discovery, or rather, the recovery, of the shorts as appropriate for outdoor wear is one of the most significant fashion finds. I still recall the days when my mother would ask me to change into something "more presentable" when I'd venture out of the house.

That meant a pair of long pants: double knit and gabardine in the 1970s, corduroy in the 1980s, and then and now, the old reliable red-tag Levi's 501.