The Stupidist Look in Fashion Ever

by Jack

If you were born after WWII you’ve seen some pretty dramatic fashion changes, from bobby socks to mini-skirts, to granny dresses and back again. Fashion trends have

always been with us, but in a shrinking world today’s fashion fads travel at the speed of the internet. I hope some of them pass as quickly as they arrived because there’s a very fine line between being cool and just being plain crazy looking.

Body piercing, gross tattoos and the pants below the crotch make kids look foolish. Just wearing this crap would get you tossed from the eligibility list at any McDonalds. How can this be a good thing for America?

People that look exactly like dangerous criminals or wild savages are probably not going to do as well on a job interview as someone more subdued. Unless you are in the carnival business most companies prefer not to hire weirdos . Besides, there are plenty of more presentable people out here who are desperate for a job.

Fact: Studies have shown ex-cons with prison tats are far more likely to return to the joint. Their criminal image is reinforced every time they look in the mirror. Weird or bizarre looking people are not going to be competitive job seekers, but maybe that’s the whole point? Have you ever considered that maybe they don’t want to work? Maybe this is how they can avoid being employable and still get free stuff? Maybe they would rather have some sort of welfare, be it mommy or daddy or hardcore welfare because they are just way under-motivated and/or lazy? Or they think they are too cool NOT to play by “the man’s” rules and so they want to shock us for some reason?

The Bible had a cool idea for these types of people. It was called motivation by starvation. “If neither shall they work, neither shall they eat.”

The nose rings, earrings, the absurd Moari face tats or prison type tattoos, is to me only slightly less objectionable than wearing one’s pants at or below the crotch level. What’s this all about any way, what with showing your undershorts? (I went in search of the answer)

I asked some friends and here are some the more typical responses: “It’s because they idolize criminals.” Or “Convicts would dress like that when they wanted anal sex.” Another was, “When thrown in prison, the belts are taken away so they don’t hang or hurt each other so their pants hang down around their waist….”

Here’s one I can really agree with, “America is heading in the wrong direction when prisoners are idolized. We need a strong dose of chlorine in the ol gene pool.”

Here’s a comment from a clinical psychiatrist, Dr. Wendy Buskey: “This issue has received a lot more attention because anytime you see underwear people may be offended by that. Dr. Buskey believes that the trend of sagging pants is a specific African-American creation that has been absorbed and embraced by the mainstream culture.

“African-Americans define and redefine what’s stylish and cool,” she says. But even if parents and older generations disapprove of the style, lecturing adolescents above 15 about sagging pants is not effective, she warns.

“What [adolescents] need at that time is to [be able] to express their point of view. As a parent this is difficult because you do have to allow your children to establish their own identity. For parents, it becomes important to be curious about this style of dress. For some adolescents this style might actually increase their self-esteem or make them feel more comfortable. For another person this type of dress could lead to antisocial behavior.”

Sola Winley, a social worker and clinical therapist based in New York says that he often informs adolescents of the image sagging pants projects. “All generations send social signals,” says Winley. “What concerns me is that if you are either black or brown there is an expected way of dressing, talking and or mannerism. For example, if you wear your pants on your waist or use correct English then you are somehow not ‘black.’

“Cops love kids who dress like this – you don’t have too run far or fast to catch ’em.” Which is not only funny, but its true. My police officer son easily chased down two gang-bangers in Stockton because their low pants made it like they were wearing leg shackles.

So it’s a stupid trend, one that we will all laugh about some day, but right now its not funny and the kids doing it look sick. This “Lord of the Flies” look with their islander tatoos, bones in the nose and spiked collars is probably having a tug on our economy. They’re professional slackers. They think it’s uncool to bust int a sweat working for wages…and heck, prison isn’t so bad and welfare is easy to get…so why work?

But, if you can believe the mental health professionals, then best thing we can do is to ignore them. I have another idea, how about we put a boot up their (snip) every time we see a low beltline – wouldn’t that work too?

How does one outgrow this?