When Madonna, pop diva and 46-year-old mother-of-two, wears her sparkling corset, thigh-high boots and hot pants in a live concert, it's fashion at its scintillating best. Hot pants are many things at the same time - sexy, rebellious and ultra-cool. Not everyone can wear them, certainly not an average 46-year-old mother of two!

The creation of hot pants is credited to John Herbert. They were a major fashion item during the 70s. A take-off from the micro minis, hot pants were much more chic. They revealed more leg, curved well around the hips, helping to flaunt a girl's assets more! Comic book icons like Wonder Woman teamed hot pants with long boots.

The fashion excesses of the sixties, with its "anything goes" style, made hot pants popular. It was a major step for ordinary girls and women to wear hot pants for the first time. They were therefore a sign of freedom, the freedom to do what you want to and even to wear what you want to!

Later, women dressed in shiny short shorts during the disco era of the 1970s. Allegheny Airlines made them part of its official flight attendants' uniform. Of course, like all trends, this blew over and was even considered an embarrassment. Even at their height, hot pants were never considered appropriate to be worn on formal occasions.

Short shorts in the social context are seen is as an extension of women asserting themselves and their sexual politics. After all, in the 70s when they were so popular, the proportion of women in state legislatures tripled. College enrollments of women were beginning to exceed men. Divorces were also becoming increasingly common.

Female pop stars today strut their stuff in short shorts. The Spice Girls helped to put them to the spotlight once again in the 1990s. Hot pants are available in a variety of materials, from leather to Lycra. If you have the right body and attitude, you can wear them and create quite a stir.