Fashion No No's

For the love of god, why? They were heinous the first time they were popular, and certainly they have not aged any better.

Tapered pants (as in, so tight at the ankle you can hardly get your foot through) were like, totally awesome in the '80s. But not really. Because as soon as we realized how ridiculous they looked, (and certainly they did) we embraced the boot cut. And now tapered pants are, like, totally grody.

"Totally to the max," agrees Carrie Krysanick of Hyde Park. "They just make for bad silhouettes." As one who "pegged" her pants in college and at one point even diagonally hand-stitched some jeans for a tighter calf-hugging fit, Krysanick is a near-expert on the phenomenon. But even she cannot explain the recent return of the taper.

Jane magazine said to "Do this don't." The "don't" was wearing tapered jeans with heels. The magazine said it would "slim" the leg - except that only tall, already-slim women can pull this off. And there are only about 12 of them in the whole world.

Then the Wall Street Journal put the look on its Marketplace cover, complete with drawings of women in tight-tapered jeans with heels, off-the-shoulder Belinda Carlisle-esque tops and big hair. (OK, so the Wall Street Journal isn't exactly a bastion of fashion. Nonetheless. The whole situation is terrifying.)

"I'm horrified," says Katie Rankin of East Walnut Hills. "It brings back memories of my first college boyfriend who wore Drakkar Noir, so I want to stay as far away from that as I can.

"Peg jeans were a big part of my life, but mostly associated with the painful parts."

And they weren't just painful from an aesthetic standpoint, but even painful to put on. The legs of some of the pants were so tight, women were known to break their own ankles, push them through the pants and then put on their Eastlands. The ankles of those who grew up in the '80s during this trend are only just now able to endure fashion's current statement of ultra-pointy heels.

Rankin says the percentage of women who can pull off the return of the taper is small. And she is not one of them.

"I don't need the criticism," she says.