Growing up at a time when bell bottoms were a thing of beauty, Freddy Jones donned his dapper attire despite the hippy flare. Always the snazzy dresser, his white sweater and orange ascot may be on the preppy side but you can’t deny the fact that the young man knew how to dress. But Freddy Jones was not a normal man. The simple fact of the matter is that some men do not care about their appearance. Then again, some men’s opinions of what looks good is jaded by environmental and societal norms. One fashion faux pas needs to be taken care of asap.
‘Saggin’, baggy pants and over sized shirts makes you appear to be unkempt to most of the population. The fact is that if you are not under the age of 3, I should never see your underwear. If you have an inch or two of underwear showing, with your shirt covering it…by all means remain in your level of comfort.
There is an urban myth that ‘sagging’ pants was adopted from a prison trend that meant that the wearer was signaling his sexual availability. This urban myth has been said to be false and despite this rumor sagging has became a truly controversial style of dress. The fad that flourished in the hip-hop culture after rappers in the early 90s started immolating this prison trend stuck around. By the mid-90s, this trend had seeped into mainstream teen culture and has done nothing but blossomed into what we see today.
The truth of the matter is that sagging did start in the prison system but it had nothing to do with being a homosexual. Sagging pants happens in prisons because the ill-fitting prison garb does not come with a belt. Most prisons do not allow belts because far too many times, the correctional officers would find inmates using them as weapons or as tools for suicide. Where the trend of sagging comes from has no relevance. Does telling someone that they can or cannot wear something infringe on their rights and/or freedom of speech? I’m not really the one to say.
Some towns have taken it upon themselves to try and change this societal trend by
outlawing ‘sagging’. That’s right. The government has gotten involved. Towns in New Jersey, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Georgia, California and many other places across the US have made it a law that you must not show your underwear. Like many things, I do not think that the government needs to get involved in a trivial situation. Many have argued that the anti-‘sagging pants’ law is a form of racial profiling because the majority of people that wear this style are young black youth.
We will always find something disturbing about someone else’s appearance. I find it disturbing when women wear black leggings with brown boots. I also find it disturbing to see a rocker dude’s belly button while wearing a drift shirt band shirt. Does that mean that they should be arrested? No. I will argue and say that I find it quite different when you are able to see the undergarments of someone ahead of you while you’re trying to buy a bunch of bananas at Walmart. If its a 16 year old boy with his pants down past the crack of his behind or a 40 year old white man who’s Levis are falling too low in the back due to his lack of buttocks (because plumber’s crack is worse than sagging); it doesn’t matter.
The purpose of Freddy’s Friday Fashion Faux Pas is to get people to realize that their appearance affects those around them. Whether you are a 16 year old kid with 5 inches of his plaid Fruit of the Looms hanging out of his pants or a 40 year old man with 2 inches of plumbers crack and 2 inches more of his tighty whities protruding from his relaxed fit Levi’s; take the time to pull your pants up. Many people’s eyes will be happy that you did.
The Pop Culture Kings present The Archives of Wisdom 