Monday, May 25, 2009

This Will Make Me Sound Old-- Butt...


What is it with guys and their pants?  To be more specific, what is it with their underwear and their butt cracks showing?  

I recently attended a high school graduation party with a bunch of teenage guys who were oh so cool with their low, baggy jeans-- all gangsta style, hip and full of attitude.  I understand peer pressure and the need to fit in, which means how they dress plays a part.  But I also know the day will come, in their middle-age, when they'll cringe at photos from their past-- kind of like I do with the wild perms and big hair photos of my youth.  At least I hope they'll be cringing rather than still wearing the same hideous look as adults.

It's just so hard for my 50-something brain to wrap around this fashion trend and how shopping works.  Do guys buy jeans in their waist size or their butt size? And, what about the length-- Is it based on the jeans pulled up or falling down?  And how do the pants actually stay up. Most teenage boys I know don't even have a butt!  What gives?

Back in my day, if someone saw I guy's underwear showing it meant he'd get a wedgie until the underwear elastic was torn off.  When did things change so drastically?  Are the underwear showing teens of today the off-spring of the poor guys from high school who always used to get underwear wedgies?

Have you noticed many of these guys parade around public in their pajamas too-- You know the elastic-waisted flannel sweats.  Even in their pajamas they seem to think it's imperative we all still see their underwear and butts!  Why?  But what I'd really like to know is-- when they're alone at home (in front of their mother!), do they walk around in their pajamas with their butts showing or, do they finally pull their britches up? 

I know, I know, if I'm asking these questions I'm too old to understand.  All I can say is thank gawd I only had to worry about wild hair trends and bad perms in my day because my parents would not have let me leave the house with my butt showing.  Never.  Ever.

Fortunately, by the time I was into the ripped sweatshirt fashion trend ala Flashdance, I was already in my own apartment.  Mom would have had a fit over that fashion statement too.

What was the fashion statement (mistakes?) of your youth?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com  -  Joanna  -  Inspired by my friend Jane @ Jane at the Garden Gate

26 comments:

  1. Some very valid points! And I am thankful that while OUR kids were growing up the trend was to not tie your shoes...that ain't so bad! We did happen to see one of these "low riders" on a skate board and the jeans some how ended up tangled over the front of the board...oooppps a daisy!

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  2. I see a lot of this in Boston. The low-riding pants thing is so 2004. I am sick of it.

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  3. I think these pants look awful. I have a kid in my neighborhood that goes around holding the front so they won't fall off and you can see his rear hanging out! We had the big hair, too. Teasing your hair was all the thing when I was in school. Maybe, that's why mine is so thin now! Thanks for stopping by my place.

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  4. My oldest went through that, and man, I've seen miles of butt crack. Luckily, my youngest is a Dockers and belt kind of dude, so no worries there.

    Now that THD is in high school, the new thing is ultra skinny jeans. He's very slender and can pull it off, but we were at the store and he tried to squeeze himself into a pair only a toothpick would feel at home in. No, uh-uh, not spending 50 bucks on something you're gonna figure out later that you can't sit down in. ;-)

    The girls apparently squeeze into them and let the muffin tops hang over. Not a real attractive look, IMO

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  5. So true! I'm 25 and just don't get this "trend" either. So, don't feel old. Trust me lots of people who even grew up seeing it (well the start of that era of horrible fashion) just don't get it either.

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  6. I just can't stop thinking how uncomfortable it must be wearing pants that are almost falling off...but comfort has never stood a chance when it comes to "fashion."

    I look back on the big puffy should pad days when we all looked like football players. Not a look I'd like to go back to, but at least it was comfortable.

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  7. I try to ignore it. But I had to laugh when I was watching a reality cop tv show and the suspect couldn't run due to his pants being too low. Yeah, he was busted.

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  8. My fashion blunder way back when were those wiiiiiide pant legs. I still have pic´s of those days and my girls laugh their heads off when they see those pants! :)
    But the pants you mention, are one of my pet peeves too. You know how we call them? "Sh*t catchers"!

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  9. I am no prude, butt, to me, showing one's butt crack is the ultimate embarrassment. Not cool. Few people look good when they bend over and their crack shows. I am sick of this this blight on the landscape too ... thanks for bringing up the discussion!

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  10. The fashion mistakes of my youth are too numerous to mention, given that I was born in 1970 and therefore was a teenager in the 1980s. Fluoro, stirrup pants, shoulder pads, teased hair, ra-ra skirts, an armful of plastic bangles, the Madonna look (circa "Lucky Star"), taffeta, sweetheart necklines, high side ponytails... oh dear....

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  11. Ack! This style is so old and there's still some nutjobs out there trying to keep it alive!

    Thankfully my son is only six and this horrid trend will be long gone. BUT! We all know about the comebacks. If this rolls back into style when he's a teenager, he will hate me 'cos I plan to staple gun his jeans at the right level. No way will my kid leave the house looking like a HOT mess!

    My own fashion horrors? Which one? I was never a good dresser (couldn't afford the good stuff either). Remember when those thick, bright colored slouch socks were in style that we'd stuff our jeans into to get that leg warmer look? I tried to pull it off with thin dress socks, which don't exactly slouch well at all. Oh the horror!

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  12. I guess we should be thankful that they are weaing underwear.
    Now in my day it was the thing to wear your fathers big shirts.

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  13. I am laughing out loud at your comments. THANK YOU! I think we pretty much agree we can all live without the current trend in baggy jeans-- or the skinny jeans for that matter.

    Your comments reminded me of a few more fashion no-nos of my day-- Those huge shoulder pads, midi and maxi coats with the zip on-zip off lengths, slouch socks and leg warmers, and of course stirrup pants-- Which, for some reason always gave me a headache (go figure).

    Oh, and bow ties when I used to wear conservative business suits-- Why we girls thought we needed to dress like men in suits was beyond me. I remember the first time I word a DRESS (not a suit with jacket) to the office. My boss called me in and asked if I was going to a party? It was one of those "Dynasty" era dresses, with the big shoulder pads. Oophs. Apparently THAT was a major fashion mistake so I was back to the suits again.

    And, and, and.... In our school district (in Ohio-- with tons of snow in the winter) girls were not allowed to even wear pants, let alone jeans, until I was 15 years old.

    Times sure have changed! Thanks for stopping by. Please keep those comments coming! I'll stop by your blogs too.

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  14. Thanks for this post. I'm so sick of seeing butt crack.

    Really.

    Too much information for me.

    Back in my day (i.e., before the invention of the wheel), a girl in or class got sent home for wearing culotte shorts. I still think the girl's dean was off her rocker for sending this girl home.

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  15. My teenaged boys explained it to me thusly: A few years back, it was discovered by a particular ex-convict demographic that low slung pants with the crotch riding near knee level made an excellent way to carry contraband (drugs, weapons) without being really obvious about it. Then for some reason the ex-convict look became Stylish, as in "how bad am I", or (as my son put it) "Ima Gangsta". And so it is.

    Funny thing is, it's apparently only the young men who think this is cool. I am told that the young women of the same demographic think it's stupid as hell.

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  16. Okay, so here it is:

    My Step Son and I used to go round and round adnauseum...about this whole butt crack clevage thing...

    The idea that no one his age knew the difference between a waste and the tops of a pelvic bone just fried my last nerve.

    I finally gave up.

    Then fast forward to last February when I'm standing there prouder than proud as I watch him graduate from Air Force Basic Training...
    and I see him with 779 other, mostly guys, finally wearing pants where they were meant to be.

    I know he thought I was crying with pride, but in truth I was crying because I finally won!!!!!

    God Bless the Armed Forces! No butt cracks seen...

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  17. Thanks for visiting my blog. Do visit again. Hope you had a great weekend.

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  18. I just sent you an email explaining why the kids of today are considered Generation Y. I hope you get a kick out of it.
    My mistakes are too numerous to mention because I was in my 20's in the 20's and I was alive in the 70's too!
    I have stopped perming my hair though so I hope I get points for that and I have a pretty tattoo above my butt crack. Now, if only we could get all the boys on board with getting those... Then we'd have something pretty to look at!! :)


    Hugs!!

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  19. Sorry, I was in my 20's in the 80's. I can't type right now!!
    :)

    More hugs!!

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  20. Love, love, LOVE your blog! (Came here via Lilly.) Looking forward to reading more!

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  21. Fashion mistakes...I'd say platform shoes!

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  22. Oh I am so with you on this. I feel I am forever turning my head away, because if I see another bare backside it will make me scream!

    Oh I have so many fashion mistakes I cannot mention then all.

    I wore a Farrah hairstyle for way too long - it embarrasses me even thinking about it - and I even see it came back again for a short while.

    I wore the big shoulder pads too a a la Dynasty. Big everything was'nt it? Big cork platform shoes and even platform flip flops (or thongs as we call them here).

    I got into hippy fashion for a while there too and was wearing a lot of tie dyed clothes, cheesecloth and batik prints. I was dating Jordan's father at the time and he was a drummer in a band and totally living an alternative life. Oh dear its like a million year ago!

    Leggings, leggings, leggings and stirrup pants - and even jodpurs - no matter that I hadnt ridden a horse for years!

    And what about the penchant for overalls - in every colour!

    Great post, we could go on and on but to me the worst fashion mistake ever has to be those crocs. In the garden ok but the minute you step out of the backyard they should be forcibly removed from your feet!!

    The sad thing is I am such a classic dresser who hates patterns and too much colour these days.

    Hope you had a great weekend!!

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  23. Holly: Butt crack cleavage!!!! That just cracks me up-- no pun intended. I'd never heard it put that way!

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  24. Lilly: Overalls-- I'd forgotten about those-- or maybe just had a mental block. I lived in the country and the "farmer" look along with "painter's pants" where really big in my high school days. I'm hoping my pressed jeans and white blouses "uniform" of today will hod me over for the next 40 years :-)

    Tracey: A tattoo!!! You're brave! id it hurt when you got it???

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  25. Solution fellas? Wear long johns...!

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  26. I'm in total agreement w/the boys baggy pants worn around their knees looking totally ridiculous. But what about the girls? I'm sorry, the low-riders or hip-huggers or whatever they're calling them these days I think are just as horrid. I get so tired of seeing the girls underwear, or thong waistband sticking out above their pants and at times seeing their butt cracks. I see it from the woman (30 yrs. old) that lives across the street from me, & it makes me insane!!
    And I'll never forget the time I saw a girl's pubic hair sticking out above her pants, she was wearing them THAT low!! Talk about disgusting!!!

    Having said all that, I have to take issue with a couple of the "fashion faux pas" that were mentioned. Stirrup pants. I loved them, still do. I still have one pair and wish I could find more. I love wearing my husbands big, over-sized dress shirts and I still wear slouch socks, even though they're getting harder to find. (Never did go in for the Madonna look or leg warmers though).

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