Social Question

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

Is it not time the saggy pants craze to go away?

Asked by Hypocrisy_Central (26879points) June 17th, 2011

Most of those who swear by this ‘off the butt’
pants wear have no ideal why it is done or where it came from. Back before many were even born Crip gangs in the LA area needed a way to identify themselves from other gangs and civilians without flashing their colors, (actual info from a ETGC member. Like many gangs use tattoos but a tattoo is not always visible or even detectable from a distance, but a pair of droopy jeans were. When some of these ”gangstas” started rapping and the genre took off many just seen the guy on MTV with all the bling and never cared much where the style came from. It is so ingrained in some they, for whatever reason, cannot, give it up for a moment. Is it overdue for this fashion fiasco to be gone? IMO it looks even tackier sometimes when I see young women trying to sport that look.

Is it just the new face of fashion and we should just learn to like it, or accept it at least?

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34 Answers

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zenvelo's avatar

Since it has been around for twenty years, I wish it would go away. I see men in their late thirties that wear their pants that way, they look ridiculous.

And I feel sorry for the teenagers that have to hold her pants up with one hand while walking down the street.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

It looks bad.
Nothing looks better than a man in a well-tailored suit.

Haleth's avatar

Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground

DarlingRhadamanthus's avatar

@lucillelucillelucille….I am with you!

and it didn’t sound like a rant to me, just a well-thought out opinion

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@DarlingRhadamanthus I agree.I didn’t take it as a rant either.

erichw1504's avatar

I sag my skinny jeans down low, whatwhat?!

No, but seriously: yes, it is time.

Mamradpivo's avatar

I like me some baggy jeans that hang pretty low. And I’m a 28-year old professional.

The trend that I worry about it is just the opposite: skinny jeans. That shit needs to go the way of the eight-track, and fast.

ANef_is_Enuf's avatar

I really don’t care what other people wear. It has no effect on me whatsoever.

FutureMemory's avatar

I despise this look even more than skinny jeans on dudes, and I HATE skinny jeans on dudes. I have come this close (holding my thumb and index finger very close together) to telling some of these people when I see them on the street “Hey man, what the fuck? Pull your pants up!”.

wundayatta's avatar

Just as I was getting into it! :(

Oh well, I’m always about 20 years behind the times, anyway. By the time I grow out of it, it’ll be retro, and saggy old man asses will be in style! :)

Yeah. Right!

erichw1504's avatar

If guys can get away with saggy pants, why can’t girls get away with saggy shirts?

…oh, wait.

FutureMemory's avatar

@worriedguy This is about saggy pants, not baggy pants. Totally different.

DominicX's avatar

Well, considering a man was recently jailed for sagging on an airplane, it might be about time…

That said, when I was in middle and high school I used to sag my jeans a little bit; most of the cool white boys did; it was “in” back then. It was barely noticeable until that one time it went too far and the side of my ass was exposed in my economics class senior year and it took me almost the entire class period to notice…(made me wonder how many times that had happened before without me noticing…)

In all honesty, I don’t care. A little sagging in the back like I used to do a lot looks fine to me. A lot of sagging is a little unattractive to me, but so are a lot of different styles, like skinny jeans, guyliner, etc. I certainly don’t think it’s reason to put someone in jail, however.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

Why is it even tackier for women to have saggy pants? No need to answer.

Dutchess_III's avatar

Yes. It looks sooo stupid.

lillycoyote's avatar

@Haleth You beat me to it!

Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground

One time I happened to be looking out the window and a kid, maybe 15, in my neighborhood was walking down the street, and he had his little swagger/strut going on and his pants hanging down low and he was pretty cool until his pants actually did fall to the ground and nearly tripped over them because they were then around his ankles. He yanked them up and looked around to see if anyone had seen him and continued on his way, just with a lot less swagger and strut. It was hilarious.

Anyway, like all youth fashion this too shall end, not soon enough. Considering what people said about the way my generation dressed when we were young I try not to get too bent out of shape about it.

And @zenvelo I think all adults, past a certain age who dress like teenagers look pretty silly, no matter what the fashion or what the era. Though some aged hippies still dress like hippies and I remember seeing men who must have been going on the 40th plus year of their Elvis cuts so who knows.

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

@DarlingRhadamanthus @lucillelucillelucille Thank you, when I caught wind of the story of the man delaying the jet, because he was asked to pull his pants up. I was thinking why he could not bring himself to do it. He probably did not even know the history of the style. People have to do things when traveling, even if it is public transportation. You cannot use your cell phone, you have to have shoes, and your shirt buttoned up even more so, the shirt itself. So, to pull your pants up for about one hour, I think that is about what it would take to fly San Fran to Phoenix, and he could not do it?

The sagging style has been mainstream for about 19 to 25 years. I wondered, the mini came out in the ‘60s and we still have them, they have become timeless. The tux has been around since dirt and its still the crème de la crème of men’s fashion, so, 20yrs from now will guys still be sagging?

If popular metal band incorporated something at was swastika inspired, even though it was not an actual swastika would people just write it off as ”fashion”? Would no one tell those who wore it where the symbol came from, or the history behind it? I know many have no ideal how saggy pants game to the forefront, but do you think many who wear it would do so if they knew it was gang related?

@ANef_is_Enuf I really don’t care what other people wear. It has no effect on me whatsoever. If you were on that jet trying to get to a wedding, a birthday or connecting with a cruise ship to take that much desired vacation and did not want to lose time, it would have.

@ worriedguy Wow…..I mean, wow! That skinny kid pulled out all of that! I almost started to look away then out comes the Uzi and the 12 gauge I had to take a double take to make sure it was no special effects trick. My mind shot back to Columbine thinking if he was some bullied kid and there were no metals detectors he would have had quite an arsenal. He would not even need to reload, you empty and toss, then pull out another and keep firing.

This is also a good reason not to sag. not to sag

@DominicX I certainly don’t think it’s reason to put someone in jail, however. The way I see it was that he didn’t get arrested for having saggy jeans, it is what happened after he was asked to pull them up.

nailpolishfanatic's avatar

I don’t think its time for them to fade away man. Come on its comfy when your pants are saggy ;)

Kardamom's avatar

It’s especially bad, because when they’re coming toward you with those pants, the dudes tend to have their hand on their crotch (not sure how holding your weiner keeps your pants up as opposed to holding onto the waistband) and then when they’re going, you get to see their nasty undies and most likely a lovely butt crack to go with it.

But it may be a better look than say this guy in the middle or this guy or even these guys

trickface's avatar

This is all a very subjective topic, in my opinion.

In the hood I’m sure lookin’ like a fool with yo pants on the ground means a lot more than it does in the ‘berbs, and unless you’re hiring employees or selecting models then who is to say what is the right dress code.

FutureMemory's avatar

@lillycoyote Loved that link :)

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

@Kardamom #2 and #3, that is so wrong. Daisy dukes on a dude? He ought to be horse whipped, and those other two…... <Running off to poke my eyes out>

@trickface …who is to say what is the right dress code. Women seem to think there is one. I hardly know any who’d leave the house without a bra even those who don’t need them in the least. It is almost a de facto part of a daily women uniform.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

Yes! I first saw this in the 1980’s and figured it was gang kids and wannabe gang kids trying to dress like prisoners/inmates. “Poops” turn me off so badly that when I’ve been in the company of a man wearing them then I’ve been uncomfortable and embarrassed.

lillycoyote's avatar

@FutureMemory You hadn’t seen that before? Boy, talk about going viral, the pants on the ground thing went totally viral about 30 seconds after it aired on American Idol

Berserker's avatar

To each his own I guess. If you wanna look like you just dropped a huge load in your pants, so be it. I suppose some people have the same type of criticism for people who want to look like vampires, or skaters that wear toques constantly, no matter how hot it is out.
Whether or not the fashion has long lived its fame, it really isn’t hurting anyone, no matter how ridiculous some of it looks.
I’m more worried about what some gangsters do to people, rather than how they dress. In fact, their dress code is a good alerting sign, and helps me to avoid them. I’ve had to deal with some before back in Winnipeg; the baggy jeans is the least of my worries.

Interesting about the identification history that comes with gangster dress code though. I wasn’t aware of that, I only knew about the colours, and hand gestures attributed to specific gangs.
Deuce, bitches! ’‘sideways peace sign’’

Plucky's avatar

Yes, it’s time. I also can’t stand the sagging skinny jeans that I see so many young guys wearing. Reminds me of diaper bottoms. Really, do these guys even know how silly their butts look when they do that? When I see that, I want to go over and give them a supreme wedgie.

I understand baggy jeans that hang a bit low ..and even skinny jeans. I’m fine with those. I just think extreme sagging looks incredibly goofy and unattractive.

Whatever floats your boat ..or, in this case, keeps your jeans from falling off, I guess.

lillycoyote's avatar

This happens to be a picture of Neil Young’s ass/pants but I had several pairs of jeans that looked very much like these, many of us did, even though I was of an age where I was more of a hippie wanna be than an actual hippie, a little late to the game, but I suspect that many people, at the time, found the massively patched, decrepit, washed twice a year whether they needed it or not, blue jeans look to be as disturbing, ridiculous and annoying as the saggy pants look so, though I have my opinion about saggy pants, I don’t get all bent out of shape about them.

FutureMemory's avatar

@lillycoyote I don’t watch network tv.

LuckyGuy's avatar

My toddler nephew’s pants sag like that when he has a full diaper. Coincidence?

GladysMensch's avatar

I think it looks dumb as hell. However, I love it when criminals are caught because their pants fall down during the getaway.

woodcutter's avatar

yup it’s been time. Also for retailers to stop selling ball caps with ragged places in them. Is all that supposed to make people look like well worn hard workers? In America? It isn’t fooling anyone.

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