Fashion: The BB Look

In the U.S., a girl in slacks is hardly worth a third look, but on the French Riviera last week, slacks were causing a sensation. Reason: the latest style, launched by Claire Vachon, the Riviera’s high priestess of beachwear, is an outfit of very low-slung slacks combined with a bolero. The slacks are ankle-tight around the hips and finger-tight around the ankles. They start below the waistline, and thus have earned a special euphemism among English-speaking tourists: the BB look, not for Brigitte Bardot, but for belly button.

In fashionable Saint-Tropez, where BB and other international types gather to bask at one another, the quais and cafés are aflash with the new rage—in slacks of solid greens, reds and pinks, paired with multicolored boleros. While the BB look holds considerable dangers for anyone above a size 10, most of the girls have done Madame Vachon credit—proving once again that it matters not how much shows but quelque chose.