Rapper’s blue-washed pair by Celine were object of derision and lust in momentous performance

The game on the pitch at Super Bowl on Sunday night was only half the story. As the Philadelphia Eagles led 24-0 over the Kansas City Chiefs, a pair of jeans worn by the American rapper and Pulitzer prize winner Kendrick Lamar for his half-time performance commanded their own crowd online.

Variously identified as bootcut, flared and bell-bottomed, the pair of blue-wash jeans were the object of derision and lust. “Kendrick wearing bootcut jeans was so special,” said the writer and comedian Sophia Benoit on social media. “I could not take my eyes off his hems,” said another user.