Pantaloonies is a fashion range brought out by Helena Bonham Carter and her friend, swimwear designer Samantha Sage. The pair work by offering a service by which people send away for a little questionnaire, asking about their favourite films and whether or not they would like a ‘bum-frill’, fill in the answers and then send it back along with the jeans they wish to be customised. The end result is a cute pair of uniquely customised jeans.

Where can I buy Pantaloonies?
You cannot actually buy them as such; the service works by you sending in your own pair of jeans for the ladies to customise.

How do I send away for the questionnaire?
You can contact Samantha Sage by sending an email to samantha[at]samanthasage.com (you will need to change [at] to @) with your name and address. So long as you are committed to the service, she will in turn send out a questionnaire for you to fill in.

How much does the service cost?
A pair of Pantaloonies costs £200 (pounds sterling) plus postage & packaging. A large proportion of this fee is donated to the charity Unicef.

How long do they take?
There is no set deadline as both Samantha and Helena can be very busy, but they can take up to 6 weeks:

“We cannot guarantee the delivery deadline due to the arrival of Helena’s baby girl Miss Pantaloonie and the Two Mrs P’s day jobs!”

Will Helena make them?
We can’t guarantee that it will be Helena who does all the work on your Pantaloonies; from what I understand, it could either be Helena or Samantha, or a combination of the two. It depends how busy they are. I do however know that Helena does the rubber stamps, and of course the signature!

Is it true that Helena also does bloomers?
Yes, they do also do bloomers, Helena describes them as “the perfect alternative to tracksuit bottoms”. The Bloomin’ Bloomers collection includes bloomers, camisoles and mop caps, however I do not have much information on these.

What Helena Has Said…

“I do enjoy the irony of having this reputation for dressing badly and yet having started a fashion line, if you can call it that: a sartorial pariah working in fashion. I met my friend Samantha Sage at antenatal classes and I was just so bored because I was pregnant and not working. I’d cut off a pair of old jeans at the knee, and put frills around the bottom, rather like Little House On the Prairie bloomers. Sam saw them and said, ‘You really ought to set up your own fashion line.’ So we created Pantaloonies – service customising jeans. We send customers a questionnaire, asking thinks like ‘What’s your favourite film?’ and, ‘Would you like a bum frill?’ – they send back the answers with their jeans and we customise them according with words, fills and rubber-stamped patches – I do all the rubber stamping. We had a woman whose favourite film was Mary Poppins, so we wrote ‘practically perfect’ on the bottom; another adored Dorothy Parker, so I shrank one of her poems and rubber-stamped it on the bottom. We’ve even customised jeans for a bride. The only problem is that I fall in love with each pair and don’t want to give them back. I’ve made pairs for friends and kept them for myself. I made some for my agent which say ‘special agent’ inside, but I love them so much she’s never going to get her hands on them.  Now she’s going to read this and want them back.”