I was amazed to see a kid wearing a hooded sweatshirt yesterday. If memory serves he didn’t have it zipped, but he did have the hood up. And we were having record high temperatures in the area. It was about 6PM, and 95F. The only other people I’ve seen wearing their hoods up in weather like this are homeless people, who for whatever reason usually do seem to be overdressed in hot weather, at least around here. I always attributed it to mental illness in that case. But this kid seemed quite run of the mill. He was crossing the street with who appeared to be his mother.
It’s the “gangsta” fashion these days, at least around my high school. Makes you look like you’re from the Hood, or something like that. Blame MTV for the heat stroke. What is really funny is to see kids at my school doing it…cuz I think there are a grand total of maybe 10 black students in the entire school! White boys from suburbia just look silly.
What is the world coming to? It used to be that gansta style meant uber-expensive team logo-jackets, shoes, and gold chains. What’s with the frumpy sweatgear? It’s like they just don’t care about making a good impression.
Errm, well, I’m a “kid” and I wear hoodies all the time. They’re my single favourite piece of attire. I wear them not to look all thugged-up but because they’re very warm and comfortable.
As for wearing them in warm weather, well, guess what: I rarely wear shorts or t-shirts. And quite honestly, very few people CAN wear shorts without looking stupid. Some people, such as myself, have a very low temperature tolerance. I wear hoodies/long-sleeve shirts right up until the heat of the summer. And even then, unless its scorching, I still stick to pants and shirts.
So what I’m really saying is, “what’s the big deal?” :dubious:
What the hell?
I’m a girl and I wear zip up hoodies all the time. And believe me, I’m not trying to look like I’m from the “hood”. They sell hoodies at Walmart, Target- I have never heard anyone say that a zipped up hoody is some kind of status symbol or statement. I think of them as a light jacket. I just don’t undertand this thread.
As for wearing it in the heat, a little wierd, but who cares? Would you be as taken back to see some one in a plain old sweatshirt or sweater?
I think Eminem has been sporting the “hood up” style for a bit, which probably explains why I see every little thug wannabe white kid from the 'burbs wearing one.
Suburban girl cute hoodies: Cashmere or very light cotton. Pastels. Tight fitting. Hood’s only up when it’s cold. Unzipped. Tightie whitey T underneath.
Suburban boy wannathug hoodies: Heavy cotton, possibly fleeced inside. Dark brooding colors. Oversized. Hood’s always up. Usually zipped, or, a pullover. White wife-beater (tank top / guinea T) underneath.
When I was a retail workers in Texas , we had a special word for people who wore hoodies in the summer months … we called them shoplifters. Stupid people didn’t seem to think we would find it odd they were wearing a heaving sweater in 100 degree heat. It had the same effect of wearing a big t-shirt that said “Shop Lifter” with a bright light blinking in the back. Nobody would be caught dead in a sweater during the summer heat unless they had something to hide or they really were killed by the heat.
I’ve seen people wearing hoodies in rooms that were probably over 90 degrees. I’ve worn hoodies in rooms over 90 degrees. I’ve worn hoodies in the summer. I do not wear hoodies to look tough.
If high-school people are wearing hoodies, it isn’t expressly to look tough either. It’s for the same reason as everything else in high school: to look cool, to fit in, so as to avoid the ceaseless torture that comes from not doing so. Because of the highly successful marketing of ‘hip-hop culture’, what is cool now happens to include hoodies. Please do not think these people are trying to look tough, or because they’re gangsta wannabes. They’re just doing what MTV and the various hip-hop record labels that just happen to own clothing lines are telling them to do.
Above all, do not think that African heritage is a prerequisite for hoodie-wearing – something like 70% of hip-hop records are sold to suburban white kids, and I would assume the proportion of clothing is even greater because suburban white kids have so much disposable income. The look that may have been ‘gangsta’ 10 years ago is now basically mainstream. Dressing like you walked off the set of a 50 Cent video is the mid-2000s version of grunge or hippie clothing. It does not suggest criminal behavior, though it may have the effect of making someone look scary.
moriah: You forgot the most important part: the Phat Farm or Roca Wear or Ecko or whatever logo. Without a logo, the hoodie may have come from Walmart or Target and would therefore be not cool. Around here there are a lot of people who wear clothes with knock-off logos - essentially fakes. They think this is much cooler than I do.
There is a small chance that someone wearing a hoodie that does not have one of these logos might belong to a legitimate subculture (skateboarding, drum and bass, non-mainstream hip-hop).
On hood-up vs. hood-down: The hood-up thing has not appeared here. I hope it doesn’t, because hordes of teenagers pretending to be Eminem is as dangerous and terrifying as it is out-of-date. One modification that I have seen, though not among mainstream hoodie-wearers, is to cut off the sleeves. This makes the hoodie more wearable in the summer. There is another modification that I will not discuss here for fear of seeing it spread.
Absolutely, if it was as hot out as it was yesterday. And I wasn’t “taken aback”, I was “surprised”. A subtle but important distinction.
As a matter of fact the kid was wearing extra baggy pants with the back pockets hanging down in back of his legs, which didn’t make me think “gangster” necessarily, but just that he was adhering to a trend or trying to make fashion statement. That led to my OP.
I always thought teenagers wore them because it makes them feel more protected. Not in a helmet wearing kind of way, more like a hiding under the covers in public way. Only their face is exposed, any periferal contact is avoided, and their pasty white necks are covered. I knew a kid who liked to wear them when he was stoned, it seemed like fewer people were looking at him, and made avoiding social interaction much easier. I’m sure the fashion developed as it normally does, but I think this might have been the impetus. YMMV
To be completely honestly, I do to an extent wear them for the reasons suggested by dnooman (though I don’t get high).
Other than that - and I’m sure Mottpot would agree with me on this - hoodies simply are no longer considered “winter clothes” by us in the young generation.
Hoodies over here also have the connotation of young wannabe thugs/shoplifters, particularly when combined with baseball caps. (Hood up, over the cap.)
I recall a local news item about some shop owners banning anyone wearing them from their premises becasue they are often used to hide the face of a shoplifter from security cameras.
