Dress up Your Plants in a Pair of Pants
Let your plant’s personality shine with Michelle Sieg’s pants pots.
Courtesy of Michelle Sieg
The rising demand for house plants has inspired people to decorate their flora like never before. But for Michelle Sieg, it was an opportunity to allow her greenery to express itself (no, really express itself). Introducing a Pair of Plants: pots in the shape of pants made for your plants.
Sieg believes that plants have individual identities, just like our pets. “Every plant has personality in the way of being taken care of,” she says. From the amount of light to the amount of water, not every species of house plant requires the same care. These different characteristics serve as the basis for Sieg’s brand Pair of Plants, which is a line of handcrafted pots that resemble our trousers, slacks, jeans, and more.
When Sieg pairs a plant with one of her pants, she considers factors such as coloring, care, and vibes. For example, she paired “Juicy” sweatpants with a low-maintenance ‘Polka-dot’ plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) because both pant and plant like to keep it casual. “Flaming Hot” jeans are paired with a spikey ‘Firestick’ (Euphorbia tirucalli) because they both represent fire and rock a punk attitude. Another grunge “Punks” pair is combined with a Starfish plant that resembles a mohawk.
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The “Sunday Scaries” sweats pot is paired with a Pilosocereus cactus in the spirit of Netflix and chilling. “Most people wear sweats while lying on the couch so I put a cactus because it looked phallic and funny,” laughed Sieg.
The “Crimson Tina” bellbottoms represent a night out on the town, paired with a ‘Flamingo Flower’ (Anthurium andraeanum) that is “poofy, festive, and is a tease,” says Sieg. The “Chunky Boi,” an ode to ’90s cargo pants, is paired with a ‘Gold Dust’ plant (Aucuba japonica) whose yellow spotting reminds Sieg of ’90s graffiti.
Courtesy of Michelle Sieg
By day Sieg is art director but by night her direction takes a greener side. Sieg wanted to dive deeper into her creativity. “I was in a dead space with work and wanted to pick up tactile things as an excuse to leave the house.” From then on, Sieg pursued the art of ceramics.
Sieg started with cups and bowls and worked her way up the pottery ladder. After she developed her skills, she invested in conceptualizing her next project. “I knew I didn’t want to do pots and mugs, but wanted to do something a little more creative,” she says.
Her first thought: butts. Sieg knew she wanted the basis of her project to be centered on the derriere and after three to four days of bouncing ideas to and fro, the project came to her mid-conversation with her boyfriend. “What if I just made pants … for plants?” she half-joked aloud. Pants for Plants was born.
As soon as her idea came to fruition in March, Sieg started creating in the studio. “I just went full speed ahead,” she says. She starts the process by molding the pair of pants. She then lets the mold harden before adding details like pockets. “The thing with pottery is that it is a patient process because you have to wait for things to dry,” Sieg says. After the details are added, she trims the pants and finesses the lines to create the perfect curvature. Once again, the mold is stored safely until it drys and then heads into the kiln before it is ready for its final glaze.
Sieg always knew her pants were destined for greatness. On the first Instagram post of her pants, people left comments wondering how they had not already taken the social media world by storm. They soon did.
“It’s weird to say that going viral was a part of my plan but it was because I believed in the idea,” she recalls. “It is funny and dumb but also so great at the same time.”
In late August, Sieg woke up to her phone provider informing her that she had used a large amount of data and that if she continued, her phone would slow down. “I felt like my phone was falling apart: my follows were going up, my notifications and comments didn’t stop, everything was going wild.”
Currently, her TikTok is sitting at 6.1 million views, which has translated to the success of her business. “I’m currently on back order,” Sieg explains.
@apairofplants Tik tok took my last video down 😭😭 help me blow this back up 😖##TalkCurlyToMe ##SmartfoodClub ♬ original sound – Cody Newman
To date, she has crafted around 60 pants. Each is handmade and takes at least eight hours, not an easy feat for someone putting in the work after a 9 to 5. She spends her evenings in the studio but has no regrets. “It’s one of those things when everybody is so in love with something you’re doing, it’s very empowering and motivating,” she says. “If I get 10 custom orders then I’m in the studio for 10 days.”
Customers have helped grow the concept. “In my original vision, I planned on doing retro and ’90s-style pants but I started getting requests for renowned looks and my original vision shifted,” she says. “The idea really took off when the ideas from other people came to brand.” One of her biggest requests yet? Harry Style’s iconic trousers from his second studio album, Fine Line. Sieg took to the studio and re-created the look for her plants. The pair runs around $450 on Sieg’s website and has been paired with a Spider Plant that resembles Style’s flowy hair. Sieg continues to be inspired by these requests and wants to craft more pairs of plants based on iconic looks from pop culture.
For Sieg, the pants are just the beginning. Within the next six months, the artist plans to expand her collection to include more plant accessories. Think of a cactus wearing a cowboy hat or a philodendron wearing a beanie.
“I want to push the general strategy around plants having different personalities and allow them to express themselves,” Sieg says.
Currently, custom requests for a pair are closed but, good news, Sieg plants to reopen requests again just in time for the holiday season.
