Pants down or up? New fashion or stupid?

[riverc0il]

The common excuse for an alternative style is, 'I just want to express my individuality'. No you don't You want to be accepted by a certain group of people because it might benefit you professionally, socially, sexually......whatever. That comment is ageless and true of all 'life styles'.

Could not have said it better myself, perfectly put. "The Jones" do it to in the whole "keeping up" with the latest yuppie wear, trendy car, etc. But as you wrote, the laughable styles stick out the most. Not as individuals but as trendy wanna-fit-ins.

One of the most startling things I learned my first year of college was in General Psychology. That the younger people are the more they want to fit in and the older people get the more individualized they become. That was totally backwards from my raging youthful angst perspective. I was rebelling, damn it! I saw the world differently and was individualistic in my expression! Yup, we are all that chump at one point or another in our lives. Some people never realize it, heh!

But this is all old news, we all understand the problem because we lived it. I guess that is why it is so fun to poke fun?

On the respect issue, I don't know. Maybe we will all eventually be walking around with our pants just a belts width above our crotches at some point in the future. Because on the flip side, what is "decent" has certainly evolved over the years. Used to be society was pretty puritan in its acceptance of what is decent and what is not.

However, on the flip side, I think it really says something when our society in its current state draws a line in the sand and says "walking around with four inches of your drawers showing is not really decent." Just think of what else in our society is just find and dandy decency wise and this is where we choose to draw a line. Maybe its just me, but I think that some unknown universal barrier is being crossed and for only the reason of pissing a few people off, not because the barrier was dumb to begin with. So I say this is less about disrespect and more about lack of self respect in the name of fitting in and being cool. But that is pretty much what any rebellious behavior is about when it is about rebelling instead of changing something that is a restriction not inherently bad.

Good/Bad/Inherent? Its all a judgment call and as always I straddle the line between Objectiveness and Subjectiveness. I think that argument exists on a sliding scale depending on the situation. Call me a situational objector

 

[mondeo]

Down with pants!

 

[Skimaine]

There will come a time when they will look back and wonder "what were we thinking". :dunce: I have said the same thing about my fashion sense when I was 30 years younger.

 

[ERJ-145CA]

There will come a time when they will look back and wonder "what were we thinking". :dunce: I have said the same thing about my fashion sense when I was 30 years younger.

During the '80s I didn't wear any of the gay 80s clothes, well except maybe acid washed jeans. I wore basically jeans, one of the 20 Zeppelin t-shirts I had and a flannel over that. I guess I was ahead of my time, grunge before grunge appeared. At least I don't have any regrets about my wardrobe. The mullet with the spiked top is a different story.

 

[Glenn]

I LOL at the irony of kids trying to look somewhat ghetto. "I'm so core.....I have my dad drop me off in the back of the parking lot so my peeps don't see me get out of the X5.....word..."

 

[Dr Skimeister]

Yep. I think it's becoming trendy to lookgay.....not that there's anything wrong with that...

During the '80s I didn't wear any of the gay 80s clothes wardrobe.

A shame that homophobia is tolerated....perhaps even encouraged?...here

 

[ERJ-145CA]

A shame that homophobia is tolerated....perhaps even encouraged?...here

I'm not homophobic in the least, the use of gay in regards to clothes there is just a common term from when I was growing up. Maybe the younger generation doesn't use it like that in the interest of political correctness - I don't know. Don't forget that gay used to just mean happy. Is calling a fashion ghetto racist then?

 

[Beetlenut]

A shame that homophobia is tolerated....perhaps even encouraged?...here

Lighten up Doc!

 

[Mapnut]

Maybe I am getting old and a bit crotchedy . . .

I dunno, Jeffy, low pants have been around for some years and you're only getting around to voicing your objections now. I'd call you "slow to anger."

 

[Marc]

I hate it, but not because I'm old and crotchety. I just don't particularly like looking at a bunch of man, or male teenager ass, as it were.

But then again, I've always let pragmatism influence a large portion of my clothing decision. When it is necessary for me to make advancement in my professional life, like DHS said, putting on a suit, I do it but don't particularly like it.

Ski clothing is pretty much 100% about the practical aspects for me, including functionality, comfort and price. Anyone that buys clothing for sports like skiing based on something else is clearly seeking acceptance from others and/or is insecure.

 

[Greg]

A shame that homophobia is tolerated....perhaps even encouraged?...here

:blink: You're overreacting, a wee little bit, don't you think? :roll:

 

[dbking]

Ski clothing, like golf clothing, looks pretty silly to a lot of people who don't play the sport.

 

[umby]

Tall Tee's are hilarious for skiing. You got to love seeing a little spoiled brat trying to act 'gangsta' with his new Saga outerwear outfit and season pass that his mommy and daddy paid for (probably to just shut the little shit up).

 

[Glenn]

:blink: You're overreacting, a wee little bit, don't you think? :roll:

Oh don't worry, this will be the topic dejour elsewhere. But remember, it's not about AZ over there.

 

[jaywbigred]

Hmm, none of it really bothers me. Not sure why. I don't begrudge the kids doing it.

I think there are a lot of established social and psychological reasons for it, and none of them are unhealthy. Dressing that way as a teen is a mode of differentiation from your parents' generation, and a sign that, instead of letting them dress you, you are starting to express your individuality by making your own fashion choices. You are maturing as an individual, and your identity is no longer singularly aligned with the family.

Simultaneously, by choosing certain clothes that are, in a sense, a uniform of a certain crowd, you are seeking out and probably finding a very key element of acceptance into a group, i.e. social support, which is an important accompaniment with your simultaneous distancing from the family.

In other words, the choice of dress is simultaneously rebellious (as against the family) and conformist (as related to peers) by design. And all of it is part of the self-actualization process that is a natural part of the teenage years as we progress into our adult selves.

Of course, I'm talkin' out my ass...just trying to figure out/justify why it doesn't bother me.

 

[SnowRider]

Actually those long pants, jerseys, and bandanas are hater blockers.

Wear what you want, who cares?

 

[SkiDork]

how do they stay up without falling down to your ankles? Thats what I wonder...

 

[skizoo]

how do they stay up without falling down to your ankles? Thats what I wonder...

Sometimes they don't.. My wife and I were on the village shuttle at Stowe a couple years back and some kid with a board got on, he couldn't walk 3 steps without his pants falling to his knees, the entire bus was having a good laugh, not sure if he even understood why.. or cared..

 

[bvibert]

I'm not offended, nor do I really care about the low baggy pants, but I still think it looks stupid. The tall tees too.

 

[chrisrunsi]

There are lots of reasons that there a baggy pants on the mountain. Someone could have ordered online like I did and got a size too big without returns. Part of it is functionality as well. Skiers for a good majority keep their legs pretty close together, boarders have wide stances in which we bend down to grab our boards, twist and a lot of pants don't offer the flexibility unless you sag them a bit. Granted I'm not proposing that the people that have them hanging off their @$$ aren't doing it on purpose but there are some people that take functionality too far. Do I think this is a thread with an underlying skier v. boarder vibe, kind of, but if you look at the new freestyle skiers on the mountain, they wear their clothes just the same. I ski and ride so I'm not taking sides here but it's more a function of freestyle vibe than anything else.