Armie Hammer as Oliver in Call Me By Your Name wearing retro short-shorts

In the Academy Award-winning film Call Me By Your Name, directed by Luca Guadagnino, costume designer Giulia Piersanti dressed male co-stars Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet in clothes true to the early 1980s time period. The film's wardrobe garnered a lot of chatter, much of it focused on the costars' fitted, well above the knee shorts. Here’s the thing: The appeal of shorts in the summertime is comfort—not just physical comfort, but also the comfort of nostalgia. Shorts are about those summer days that seemed like they could never end, a time when responsibilities were non-existent. If a garment takes us back to a better time, why not wear it?

Grailed’s brand director Lawrence Schlossman explains his attraction to the 5-inch inseam thus, “For me, it's a combination of utility, nostalgia, and straight-up aesthetics. They're more comfortable from a movement standpoint, [and] remind me of a younger, simpler time when I was in college and wore this kind of stuff basically year-round.”

Fashion photographer Juergen Teller has declared his devotion to the succinct inseam even more directly, “What’s the point of shorts if they’re not short?”

Kanye West in shorter than average shorts in 2018 Photo: Backgrid

Teller speaks the truth. It’s the fundamental reason that personally, I am loyal to the time-honored Patagonia 5-inch Baggie, its design virtually unchanged since 1982. Classics don’t happen by accident. It is the well-priced stylish short that is not only the most comfortable but also the most versatile. It comes in a wide array of colors and playful prints. You can wear a pair to a weekend lunch, on a hike, or to the beach.

And with that, the era of calf-grazing cargo shorts and baggy boardshorts is over. Where there once was darkness, now there is light, sunlight beaming down on all of us—thighs and all.