Giant Pants Swallow Julianne Hough on Oscars Red Carpet

“You hike me! You really hike me!”

… is what Julianne Hough’s giant white clown-pants would have said had they had a mouth to scream as Hough hoisted them up all the way up her torso on the red carpet leading into the the 96th annual Academy Awards, where the dancer and presenter is hosting ABC’s official Oscars Red Carpet Pre Show. Tonight is the Dancing with the Stars personality’s first time hosting the pre-show alongside grizzled red carpet vet Vanessa Hudgens, and someone on her team must have slipped her a recent issue of the New York Times Magazine, because oh wow, is she taking the big pants trend to its absolute possible apotheosis.

The ensemble by Alexandre Vauthier (rhymes with Gaultier, but not at all Gaultier) was described by E! Online as “Surprise Pants,” partially because they’re giving dress illusion when Hough isn’t doing a high kick or plié, and partially because they engender in onlookers the same sense of surprise that they’d get from, say, a clown springing from a sewer. Co-host Hudgens dropped an Oppie (aka a bombshell, keep up) when she revealed a baby bump on the carpet, and yet it’s Hough who has stolen the show and ran away with the circus in maybe the ultimate pair of maternity pants. Between the pants, the bob, and the silver and gold sparkly top, it’s gonna be a Toot and a Shoot from us at the Vulture Couture Division. We salute America Ferrera’s speech in Barbie for teaching women everywhere that it’s okay to wear pants.

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